Computational Methods for the Multiscale Modelling of Soft Matter

Due to the hierarchical organization of morphology in soft materials and their slow dynamics, a single modelling technique does not suffice to simulate them. The wide range of modelling approaches available span many time and length scales, making it challenging for newcomers to the field to know how to critically assess the tools and to determine which is most appropriate for any given problem. This book provides a concise and clear description of a variety of simulation methods to model these ubiquitous materials. The list of techniques includes numerical and molecular modelling ones and covers several time and length scales.

Along with the fundamental concepts of the theory behind the methods, a comprehensive set of examples taken from the broad pool of soft materials is included. These exemplify how, thanks to the increased computational resources nowadays available to almost any research group, computational methods have become a powerful tool to sit alongside other experimental characterizations and show their increasing relevance for the manufacturing sector. Chapters illustrate how modelling techniques can be used to aid interpretation of experimental data, and how experiments can be used to parameterise models. In addition to enabling informed decisions to be made about the modelling tools to adopt for a given problem, the book will enable those who might already be experts in one technique to transition to other tools more easily. This will become increasingly important as multiscale tools become increasingly sophisticated and sufficiently well developed to be used by more casual users of simulation tools.

Bringing together all these modelling approaches and applications into one coherent volume, Computational Methods for the Multiscale Modelling of Soft Matter provides a one-stop resource that is written primarily for postgraduate students and researchers in materials science, computational physics and chemists and chemical engineering interested in learning about simulation methods for soft materials as polymers, surfactants, and colloids.

• Introduces the theoretical underpinnings of a broad range of soft matter modelling techniques
• Demonstrates the critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the techniques including comparison with experimental data when possible
• Provides example applications to guide the reader through how the techniques can be used in practice