Collaborative Research: Time-Dependent and Inhomogeneous Flows of Entangled Polymeric and Micellar Networks
Pam Cook (Collaborative with  Gareth H. McKinley - MIT)

Under this grant the material properties of complex fluids such as those constituting shampoos, liquid detergents, molten plastics and fluids utilized in enhanced oil recovery will be studied. On the microscopic scale these polymeric fluids consist of large aggregates or macromolecules and the shape and orientation of these molecules control the properties of the fluid and how it performs in the desired application. It is very difficult to characterize these fluids experimentally because their flow properties, unlike those of Newtonian fluids such as water, become inhomogeneous even in simple geometries. This means that the usual types of measurements (in which the fluid properties are measured at the flow boundaries) are not sufficient to understand and characterize the material response. The PIs have formulated a new model or equation of state that more fully describes the microstructural properties of these fluids and how they flow. They now investigate the predictions of this model in various flows.

Article created: September 10, 2008