Related papers: Following the thread: surface and bulk solvent mig…
In this paper, diffusion in polymer solutions undergoing evaporation of solvent is modeled as a coupled heat and mass transfer problem with moving boundary condition within the framework of nonequilibrium thermodynamics. The proposed…
We propose and analyze a mathematical model of the mechanics of gels, consisting of the laws of balance of mass and linear momentum. We consider a gel to be an immiscible and incompressible mixture of a nonlinearly elastic polymer and a…
The transport of deformable particles through porous media underlies a wealth of applications ranging from filtration to oil recovery to the transport and spreading of biological agents. Using direct numerical simulations, we analyze the…
Elastic turbulence is a chaotic flow state observed in dilute polymer solutions in the absence of inertia. It was discovered experimentally in circular geometries and has long been thought to require a finite amplitude perturbation in…
We investigate the rapid spreading dynamics of a viscoelastic drop on a solid. Upon contact, surface tension drives a fast motion of the contact line along the substrate. Here, we resolve this motion for viscoelastic liquids by experiments…
Porous membranes are thin solid structures that allow the flow to pass through their tiny openings, called pores. Flow inertia may play a significant role in several filtration flows of natural and engineering interest. Here, we develop a…
We consider the process of convective dissolution in homogeneous and isotropic porous media. The flow is unstable due to the presence of a solute that induces a density difference responsible for driving the flow. The mixing dynamics is…
It is well-known that wettability exerts fundamental control over multiphase flow in porous media, which has been extensively studied in uniform-wet porous media. In contrast, multiphase flow in porous media with heterogeneous wettability…
We report an investigation of the equilibrium and dynamic properties of polyelectrolyte solutions confined between platinum surfaces with a dynamic Surface Force Apparatus. The polyelectrolyte adsorbs on the surfaces in a dense compact…
Hydrogels are biphasic, swollen polymer networks where elastic deformation is coupled to nanoscale fluid flow. As a consequence, hydrogels can withstand large strains and exhibit nonlinear, hyperelastic properties. For low-modulus hydrogel…
We study the dynamics of the phase behavior of a polymer blend in the presence of shear flow. By adopting a two fluid picture and using a generalization of the concept of material derivative, we construct kinetic equations that describe the…
In the technique of microrheology, macroscopic rheological parameters as well as information about local structure are deduced from the behavior of microscopic probe particles under thermal or active forcing. Microrheology requires…
The surface tension of interacting polymers in a good solvent is calculated theoretically and by computer simulations for a planar wall geometry and for the insertion of a single colloidal hard-sphere. This is achieved for the planar wall…
Mechanical properties of cellular structures, including the cell cytoskeleton, are increasingly used as biomarkers for disease diagnosis and fundamental studies in cell biology. Recent experiments suggest that the cell cytoskeleton and its…
In a microfluidic environment, the presence of bubbles is often detrimental to the functionality of the device, leading to clogging or cavitation, but microbubbles can also be an indispensable asset in other applications such as…
Recent experiments on crosslinked gels quenched from solvent-rich to solvent-poor conditions show solvent-rich domains embedded in a gel-rich matrix. These domains coarsen and then undergo kinetic arrest at micron scales for hours, before…
In the popular solution-diffusion picture, the membrane permeability is defined as the product of the partition ratio and the diffusivity of penetrating solutes inside the membrane in the linear response regime, i.e., in equilibrium.…
Fundamental understanding of the effect of microscopic parameters on the dynamics of probe particles in different complex environments has wide implications. Examples include diffusion of proteins in the biological hydrogels, porous media,…
We study the dynamics of an ideal polymer chain in a crowded, viscoelastic medium and in the presence of active forces. The motion of the centre of mass and of individual monomers is calculated. On time scales that are comparable to the…
We study the linear stability with respect to lateral perturbations of free surface films of polymer mixtures on solid substrates. The study focuses on the stability properties of the stratified and homogeneous steady film states studied in…