Mathematical Biology Seminar

Qi Wang
Department of Mathematics, University of South Carolina
and USC Nanocenter
3:05PM, Wednesday, November 3, 2010
LCB 225
Kinetic theories for multiphase complex fluids with applications to biological materials

Abstract: Kinetic theories have long been used in simple and complex fluids to formulation theories to describe the dynamics of the materials. They have been shown to be extremely successful in describing the mesoscopic structures and dynamics in polymeric materials. For instance, the Navier-Stokes equation is derived from the kinetic theory called Boltzmann equation. Kinetic theory applied to multiphase materials is tedious and can be intractable to general practitioners at times. However, by sticking to a few selected physical principles while approximating the others, much simplified kinetic theories can be developed. In this talk, I will talk about the development of kinetic theories for multiphase complex fluids. I will illustrate the point using two examples in immiscible binary fluids and biological fluids.