Influence of system size and solvent flow on the distribution of wormlike micelles in a contraction-expansion geometry

• Published in: The European physical journal. E, Soft matter (Print) Vol. 26; no. 1-2; pp. 63 - 71
• Main Authors: Stukan, M. R., Boek, E. S., Padding, J. T., Crawshaw, J. P.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Bologna Società Italiana di Fisica 01-05-2008; Springer
• Subjects: Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics; Chemistry; Colloidal state and disperse state; Complex Fluids and Microfluidics; Complex Systems; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Ismc-2007; Micelles. Thin films; Nanotechnology; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Polymer Sciences; Porous materials; Soft and Granular Matter; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; 83.80.Qr Surfactant and micellar systems, associated polymers; 83.10.Mj Molecular dynamics, Brownian dynamics; 47.56.+r Flow through porous media; Viscoelasticity; Wormlike micelle; Flow rate; Fluid; Theoretical study; Radius of gyration; Reforming; Surfactant; Flow field; Complexes; Density; Porous material; Contraction; Geometry; Newtonian flow; Pore; Simulation; Distribution; Models; Dynamic model; Structure; Rheological properties
• ISSN: 1292-8941; 1292-895X
• DOI: 10.1140/epje/i2007-10316-y

.
Viscoelastic wormlike micelles are formed by surfactants assembling into elongated cylindrical structures. These structures respond to flow by aligning, breaking and reforming. Their response to the complex flow fields encountered in porous media is particularly rich. Here we use a realistic mesoscopic Brownian Dynamics model to investigate the flow of a viscoelastic surfactant (VES) fluid through individual pores idealized as a step expansion-contraction of size around one micron. In a previous study, we assumed the flow field to be Newtonian. Here we extend the work to include the non-Newtonian flow field previously obtained by experiment. The size of the simulations is also increased so that the pore is much larger than the radius of gyration of the micelles. For the non-Newtonian flow field at the higher flow rates in relatively large pores, the density of the micelles becomes markedly non-uniform. In this case, we find that the density in the large, slowly moving entry corner regions is substantially increased.