Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a geometric cluster algorithm that makes possible the fast and accurate simulation of complex fluids.
Computer simulations play an essential role in the study of liquids that contain particles of different sizes, which are commonly known as complex fluids. But the two main techniques for the atomistic simulation of liquids - the molecular dynamics technique and the Monte Carlo method - have limitations that greatly reduce their effectiveness.
'The main advantage of the molecular dynamics method - its ability to provide information about dynamical processes - is also its main limitation,' said Erik Luijten, a professor of materials science and engineering at Illinois. 'Many complex fluids contain particles of widely different sizes, which move at vastly different time scales. A simulation that faithfully captures the motions of the faster as well as the slower particles would be impracticably slow.'
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