Multiscale simulations for suspensions of rod-like molecules (Q2495761)

The purpose of the article is the development of numerical methods for the micro-macro model for suspensions of rod-like molecules proposed by \textit{M. Doi} and \textit{S. F. Edwards} [The Theory of Polymer Dynamics, Oxford University Press (1986)]. In this micro-macro model, the macroscopic flow is described by the Stokes equation and the microscopic model is the Smoluchowski equation (a Fokker-Planck equation on sphere). The drift term in the Smoluchowski equation depends on the macroscopic velocity gradient of the flow. The numerical approximations are restricted to a PDE in four dimensions. The Smoluchowski equation is written in spherical coordinates and splitted into a transport equation the heat equation. The solution for the transport equation is approximated via a high resolution finite volume method and the solution for the heat problem by a second-order accurate finite difference method. Numerical results for the Smoluchovski equation are presented in both dilute and concentrated regime. Next, the coupled flow problem in dilute and concentrated regimes is considered and numerical simulations are shown. The last section is devoted to the extension of the developed numerical method to coupled flow problem in the dilute regime with a two-dimensional macroscopic velocity field and one investigates the 2-d stability of the spurted solution.