TY - JOUR
T1 - A two-level, discrete particle approach for large-scale simulation of colloidal aggregates
AU - Dzwinel, Witold
AU - Yuen, David A.
PY - 2000/7
Y1 - 2000/7
N2 - Most numerical techniques employed for aggregation simulation are based on equilibrium growth assumption and Smoluchowski theory. We present a new two-level discrete particle model, which can be employed in simulating large colloidal clusters in highly nonequilibrium physical conditions. We consider the system of colloidal particles (CP) interacting via conservative CP-CP repulsive-attractive two-body forces, which is initially mixed in a dissipative solvent. In order to obtain a high-resolution picture of colloidal dynamics, we employ around 20 million particles consisting of two kinds of particles. For bridging the spatio-temporal scales between nanoscale colloidal and the solvent particles (SP), the solvent is modeled by dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) fluid. We focus on the systems size for which the CP-SP interactions can also be described by the DPD forces. Unlike previous numerical techniques, the two-level particle model can display much more realistic physics, thus allowing for the simulation of aggregation for various types of colloids and solvent liquids in a broad range of conditions. We show that not only large and static clusters but also the initial stages of aggregation evolution can be better scrutinized. The large-scale simulation results obtained in two-dimensions show that the mean cluster size grows with time t according to the power law tκ. Because of the time-dependence of growth mechanism, the value of κ necessarily must change. We have first κ = 1 with a value of 1 achieved asymptotically with time. We can also discern intermediate-scale structures. We emphasize that the method developed here can be easily extended to algorithms dealing with multi-level hierarchy and multiphase fluid dynamics.
AB - Most numerical techniques employed for aggregation simulation are based on equilibrium growth assumption and Smoluchowski theory. We present a new two-level discrete particle model, which can be employed in simulating large colloidal clusters in highly nonequilibrium physical conditions. We consider the system of colloidal particles (CP) interacting via conservative CP-CP repulsive-attractive two-body forces, which is initially mixed in a dissipative solvent. In order to obtain a high-resolution picture of colloidal dynamics, we employ around 20 million particles consisting of two kinds of particles. For bridging the spatio-temporal scales between nanoscale colloidal and the solvent particles (SP), the solvent is modeled by dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) fluid. We focus on the systems size for which the CP-SP interactions can also be described by the DPD forces. Unlike previous numerical techniques, the two-level particle model can display much more realistic physics, thus allowing for the simulation of aggregation for various types of colloids and solvent liquids in a broad range of conditions. We show that not only large and static clusters but also the initial stages of aggregation evolution can be better scrutinized. The large-scale simulation results obtained in two-dimensions show that the mean cluster size grows with time t according to the power law tκ. Because of the time-dependence of growth mechanism, the value of κ necessarily must change. We have first κ = 1 with a value of 1 achieved asymptotically with time. We can also discern intermediate-scale structures. We emphasize that the method developed here can be easily extended to algorithms dealing with multi-level hierarchy and multiphase fluid dynamics.
KW - Colloidal Agglomerates
KW - Dissipative Particle Dynamics
KW - Large-Scale Simulations
KW - Two-Level Model
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U2 - 10.1142/S0129183100000882
DO - 10.1142/S0129183100000882
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0034357876
SN - 0129-1831
VL - 11
SP - 1037
EP - 1061
JO - International Journal of Modern Physics C
JF - International Journal of Modern Physics C
IS - 5
ER -