Objective
Research objectives and content
THIS PROJECT CONCERNS (MAINLY) CHARGED STABILISED COLLOIDAL SUSPENSIONS. SPHERICAL AND LAMELLAR COLLOIDS WILL BE CONSIDERED. DENSITY FUNCTIONAL METHODS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED FOR SPHERICAL COLLOIDAL SUSPENSIONS. THESE METHODS WILL BE APPLIED TO THE MUCH MORE COMPLEX CASE OF CLAY COLLOIDAL SUSPENSIONS (CHARGED PLATELETS). ATTENTION WILL BE PAID TO THE DETAILED CHARACTERISATION OF THE ELECTRIC DOUBLE LAYERS AROUND INDIVIDUAL PLATELETS AND DEFORMATIONS INDUCED BY NEIGHBOURING DRESSED PLATELETS. SIMULATION RESULTS FOR THE (OVERSIMPLIFIED) QUADRUPOLE MODEL OF CLAY SUSPENSIONS WILL BE COMPARED TO THE DENSITY FUNCTIONAL ESTIMATES. THE RELEVANCE OF THE DETAILS OF INTERACTIONS ON A MESOSCOPIC SCALE FOR THE HOUSE-OF-CARDS PICTURE, WHICH IS OFTEN INVOKED IN THE INTERPRETATION OF THE RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF CLAYS, WILL BE INVESTIGATED. A SIMPLIFIED LATTICE MODEL FOR CLAY SUSPENSIONS WILL BE DEVELOPED USING STATISTICAL MECHANICS TECHNIQUES FOR DISCRETE MODELS, IN ORDER TO ANALYSE THE PHASE BEHAVIOUR OF THESE SYSTEMS.
RAMIFICATIONS OF THE RECENTLY DEVELOPED UNIFIED THEORY FOR THE ASYMPTOTIC DECAY OF STRUCTURE IN BULK AND INHOMOGENEOUS FLUIDS WILL BE EXPLORED FOR THE CASE OF COLLOIDAL SUSPENSIONS AND POLYELECTROLYTES. A RELATED ASPECT THAT MAY BE CONSIDERED WITHIN A DENSITY FUNCTIONAL FORMALISM IS THE STRUCTURE, WETTING PROPERTIES AND PHASE BEHAVIOUR OF SIMPLE FLUIDS CONFINED ON A NANOMETRIC SCALE, AS INVESTIGATED IN SURFACE FORCE MACHINES. SUCH A MACHINE IS PRESENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION AT THE HOST INSTITUTION, IN COLLABORATION WITH THE ECOLE CENTRALE DE LYON, AND WILL ALLOW DIRECT INTERACTION BETWEEN THEORY AND EXPERIMENTS.
Training content (objective, benefit and expected impact)
DURING MY POST-DOC IN LYON I EXPECT TO GAIN EXPERIENCE IN USING ADVANCED COMPUTER SIMULATION TECHNIQUES FOR COMPLEX FLUIDS. THE USE OF DENSITY FUNCTIONAL THEORY FOR INHOMOGENEOUS FLUIDS; INTEGRAL EQUATION METHODS FROM THE THEORY OF LIQUIDS AND STATISTICAL MECHANICS TECHNIQUES AVAILABLE FOR LATTICE MODELS ALSO CONSTITUTES PART OF MY FUTURE TRAINING IN LYON. THIS TRAINING WILL ALLOW ME TO DEVELOP A BROAD NUMBER OF SKILLS THAT ARE ESSENTIAL IN MODERN THEORETICAL RESEARCH ON COMPLEX AND INHOMOGENEOUS FLUIDS. AT THE SAME TIME I SHALL BE APPLYING THESE SKILLS IN SOLVING PROBLEMS OF GREAT TECHNOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE SINCE THE RELEVANCE OF COLLOIDAL SUSPENSIONS IS WELL-KNOWN FOR THE FOOD, PAINT, PHARMACEUTICAL AND PAPER INDUSTRIES, AND FOR OIL RECOVERY.
Links with industry / industrial relevance (22)
Fields of science
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
RGI - Research grants (individual fellowships)Coordinator
69364 Lyon
France