Related papers: Disentangling Entanglements in Biopolymer Solution…
We analyze the nonequilibrium dynamics of single inextensible semiflexible biopolymers as stretching forces are applied at the ends. Based on different (contradicting) heuristic arguments, various scaling laws have been proposed for the…
We numerically and analytically analyze the startup continuous shear rheology of heavily entangled rigid rod polymer fluids based on our self-consistent, force-level theory of anharmonic tube confinement. The approach is simplified by…
In this paper, we employ Molecular Dynamics computer simulations to study and compare the statics and dynamics of linear and circular (ring) polymer chains in entangled solutions of different densities. While we confirm that linear chain…
Mixtures of polymers of varying topologies and stiffnesses display complex emergent rheological properties that often cannot be predicted from their single-component counterparts. For example, entangled blends of ring and linear polymers…
The role of active stress on the conformational dynamics of a polymer has drawn significant interest due to its potential applications in understanding the energy landscape of protein structures, buckling of biopolymers, genomic spatial…
We study the rotational dynamics of a flexible polymer initially wrapped around a rigid rod and unwinding from it. This dynamics is of interest in several problems in biology and constitutes a fundamental instance of polymer relaxation from…
By using the blob theory and computer simulations, we investigate the properties of a linear polymer performing a stationary rotational motion around a long impenetrable rod. In particular, in the simulations the rotation is induced by a…
We briefly review the recent advances in the rheology of entangled polymers and identify emerging research trends and outstanding challenges, especially with respect to branched polymers. Emphasis is placed on the role of well-characterized…
While the dynamics of polymer chains in equilibrium media is well understood by now, the polymer dynamics in active non-equilibrium environments can be very different. Here we study the dynamics of polymers in a viscous medium containing…
We present an extensive analysis of the relaxation dynamics of entangled linear polymer melts via long-time molecular dynamics simulations of a generic bead-spring model. We study the mean-squared displacements, the autocorrelation function…
Microorganisms thrive in complex environments and their behavior in fluids holds significant importance for various medical and industrial applications. By conducting Lattice Boltzmann simulations, the transport and rotational properties of…
Bead spring models for polymers in solution are nonlinear if either the finite extensibility of the polymer, excluded volume effects or hydrodynamic interactions between polymer segments are taken into account. For such models we use a…
In this work, we explore the dynamics of active entangled chains using molecular dynamics simulations of a modified Kremer-Grest model. The active chains are diluted in a mesh of very long passive linear chains, to avoid constraint release…
Understanding the complex viscoelastic properties of polymeric liquids remains a challenge in materials science and soft matter physics. Here, we present a simple and computationally efficient criterion for the topological constraints in…
Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the deformation behavior of disperse polymer melts by tracking test chains of length N = Mw, the weight average molecular weight, in melts of varying dispersity. At high strain…
We derive a thermodynamically consistent framework for incorporating entanglement dynamics into constitutive equations for flowing polymer melts. We use this to combine the convected constraint release (CCR) dynamics of…
Reptation governs motion of long polymers through a confining environment. Slack enters at the ends and diffuses along the polymer as stored length. The rate at which stored length diffuses limits the speed at which the chain can drift.…
The longitudinal response of single semiflexible polymers to sudden changes in externally applied forces is known to be controlled by the propagation and relaxation of backbone tension. Under many experimental circumstances, realized, e.g.,…
The conformational properties of flexible and semiflexible polymers exposed to active noise are studied theoretically. The noise may originate from the interaction of the polymer with surround- ing active (Brownian) particles or from the…
The tumbling dynamics of individual polymers in semidilute solution is studied by large-scale non-equilibrium mesoscale hydrodynamic simulations. We find that the tumbling time is equal to the non-equilibrium relaxation time of the polymer…