Objectives: We will further develop numerical techniques that allow for the accurate and efficient modelling of flow and(re)structuring in systems of gel-forming colloidal particles. The main objective is to relate the changes in the structure to the optical properties of the system, as may be obtained via dynamic light scattering. We will build on Stokesian dynamics framework maintained in the De Graaf group, which is based on JAX implementation of the original work by Prof. J. Swan (MIT). Simulations involving shear flow relate to work in FORTH (Petekidis), and those involving extensile flows with TUD (Garbin). We will characterize the structures that result from our simulations and compute the optical properties for in-line size characterization of gels (undergoing flow) through embedding in INPRO (Besseling). Such characterization will be deployed on the systems of the CoCoGel participants, as well as systems in the labs of KUL (Koos).
Industrial secondment: The DC will be at INPRO (M18/ M19-36) during which s/he will perform numerical modelling to enable the realization of in-line particle sizing in the Nano Flow Sizer for colloidal gels.
Academic secondments: KUL (M2/M17-18): The DC will be work with the group Prof. E. Koos, where they apply the NFS to capillary suspensions and contrast with rheo-optical characterization in that group.
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