THE LEVICH INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES THE FOLLOWING SEMINAR

Tuesday, 11/3/98
4:00 PM
Steinman Hall, Room #1M-22
Professor Robert C. Armstrong
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Chemical Engineering
"Simulation of Inhomogeneous Shear Flows for Solutions of Rod-like Macromolecules"


ABSTRACT

The pressure driven flow of both dilute and concentrated solutions of rod-like macromolecules in a slit is computed by coupled solution of the equations of continuity and motion together with the diffusion equation for the distribution function. The orthogonal, compactly supported Daubechies D6 wavelet basis is used to approximate the orientational distribution function f; the wavelet basis is allowed to adapt, providing non-uniform resolution over the orientation domain. The polymer contribution to the stress, which is computed from moments of f, is approximated as discontinuous field variables in the finite element formulation. This allows the sequential computation of stresses on each element, thereby transforming the stress computation into a series of small problems. Consistency with the flow kinematics is achieved by solving the problem in a time-dependent framework by using the theta-method.

BRIEF ACADEMIC/EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:

• 1973 Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
• 1973 - 79 Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, MIT
• 1979 - 88 Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, MIT
• 1988 - Professor of Chemical Engineering, MIT
• 1989 - 95 Executive Officer, Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT
• 1993 Acting Head, Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT (April - August)
• 1995 - Chevron Professor of Chemical Engineering, MIT
• 1996 - Head, Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Polymer fluid mechanics, numerical simulation of viscoelastic flows, experimental measurement (LDV) of complex viscoelastic flows, rheological characterization of non-Newtonian fluids, rheology of foams and suspensions, polymer processing, kinetic theory and rheology of polymeric fluids and liquid crystalline polymers, transport phenomena, applied mathematics.


Return to Fall, 1998 Seminar Schedule