Flow behavior of soft objects like polymers, vesicles and cells in microchannels

我们将研究由大分子(如DNA)、小泡或血细胞等软物体组成的复杂流体在微通道中的流动行为。我们希望对微米尺寸几何形状对流体的输运性质和结构的影响有一个详细的了解。这包括软对象的构象变化以及可能的结构形成(例如聚集)。此外，还将讨论软边界对流体流动的影响。为此，我们将使用不同的技术进行计算机模拟。为了模拟流体流动，我们将采用一种基于粒子的中尺度模拟技术(多粒子碰撞动力学)，该技术考虑了流体动力相互作用。此外，我们将使用分子动力学模拟和/或三角表面模型来描述例如囊泡。我们将从考虑单个粒子开始我们的研究，然后继续到更复杂的具有粒子间相互作用的系统。我们的模拟将提供关于限制、边界条件、流体动力相互作用和颗粒间相互作用对复杂流体流动行为的微观洞察。

The flow behavior of complex fluids consisting of soft objects like macromolecules (e.g. DNA), vesicles or blood cells will be studied in microchannels. We want to achieve a detailed understanding of the influence of the micrometer size geometry on the transport properties and the structures of the fluid. This comprises the change in conformations of the soft objects as well as a possible structure formation (e.g. aggregation). In addition the influence of soft boundaries on the fluid flow will be addressed. For this purpose we will perform computer simulations employing different techniques. To simulate the fluid flow we will exploit a particle-based mesoscale simulation technique (Multi-Particle-Collision dynamics) which accounts for hydrodynamic interactions. In addition, we will use molecular dynamics simulations and/or triangulated surface models to describe e.g. vesicles. We will start our investigations by considering single particles and then proceed to more complex systems with inter-particle interactions. Our simulations will provide microscopic insight into the interplay between confinement, boundary conditions, hydrodynamic interactions, and inter-particle interactions on the flow behavior of complex fluids.