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Author: Wagner, Barbara × Start date: 2010 × Type: Text × WGL Institute: WIAS ×

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 41
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    Thin film models for an active gel
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2017) Kitavtsev, Georgy; Münch, Andreas; Wagner, Barbara
    In this study we present a free-boundary problem for an active liquid crystal based on the Beris-Edwards theory that uses a tensorial order parameter and includes active contributions to the stress tensor to analyse the rich defect structure observed in applications such as the Adenosinetriphosphate (ATP) driven motion of a thin film of an actin filament network. The small aspect ratio of the film geometry allows for an asymptotic approximation of the free-boundary problem in the limit of weak elasticity of the network and strong active terms. The new thin film model captures the defect dynamics in the bulk as well as wall defects and thus presents a significant extension of previous models based on the Leslie-Erickson-Parodi theory. Analytic expressions are derived that reveal the interplay of anchoring conditions, film thickness and active terms and their control of transitions of flow structure.
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    Predicting disordered regions driving phase separation of proteins under variable salt concentration
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2021) Meca, Esteban; Fritsch, Anatol W.; Iglesias--Artola, Juan; Reber, Simone; Wagner, Barbara
    We determine the intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) of phase separating proteins and investigate their impact on liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) with a random-phase approx- imation (RPA) that accounts for variable salt concentration. We focus on two proteins, PGL-3 and FUS, known to undergo LLPS. For PGL-3 we predict that an IDR near the C-terminus pro- motes LLPS, which we validate through direct comparison with in vitro experimental results. For the structurally more complex protein FUS the role of the low complexity (LC) domain in LLPS is not as well understood. Apart from the LC domain we here identify two IDRs, one near the N-terminus and another near the C-terminus. Our RPA analysis of these domains predict that, surprisingly, the IDR at the N-terminus (aa 1-285) and not the LC domain promotes LLPS of FUS by comparison to in vitro experiments under physiological temperature and salt conditions.
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    Center manifold reduction approach for the lubrication equation
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2010) Kitavtsev, Georgy; Recke, Lutz; Wagner, Barbara
    The goal of this study is the reduction of the lubrication equation, modelling thin film dynamics, onto an approximate invariant manifold. The reduction is derived for the physical situation of the late phase evolution of a dewetting thin liquid film, where arrays of droplets connected by an ultrathin film of thickness eps undergo a slow-time coarsening dynamics. With this situation in mind, we construct an asymptotic approximation of the corresponding invariant manifold, that is parametrized by a family of droplet pressures and positions, in the limit when $epsto 0$. The approach is inspired by the paper by Mielke and Zelik [Mem. Amer. Math. Soc., Vol. 198, 2009], where the center manifold reduction was carried out for a class of semilinear systems. In this study this approach is considered for quasilinear degenerate parabolic PDE's such as lubrication equations. While it has previously been shown by Glasner and Witelski [Phys. Rev. E, Vol. 67, 2003], that the system of ODEs governing the coarsening dynamics, can be obtained via formal asymptotic methods, the center manifold reduction approach presented here, pursues the rigorous justification of this asymptotic limit.
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    Dynamic formation of oriented patches in chondrocyte cell cultures
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2010) Grote, Marcus; Palumberi, Viviana; Wagner, Barbara; Barbero, Andrea; Martin, Ivan
    Growth factors have a significant impact not only on the growth dynamics but also on the phenotype of chondrocytes (Barbero et al. , J. Cell. Phys. 204, pp. 830-838, 2005). In particular, as chondrocyte populations approach confluence, the cells tend to align and form coherent patches. Starting from a mathematical model for fibroblast populations at equilibrium (Mogilner et al., Physica D 89, pp. 346-367, 1996), a dynamic continuum model with logistic growth is developed. Both linear stability analysis and numerical solutions of the time-dependent nonlinear integro-partial differential equation are used to identify the key parameters that lead to pattern formation in the model. The numerical results are compared quantitatively to experimental data by extracting statistical information on orientation, density and patch size through Gabor filters.
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    Two-phase flow model for concentrated suspensions
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2013) Ahnert, Tobias; Münch, Andreas; Wagner, Barbara
    A new two-phase model is derived that make use of a constitutive law combining non-Brownian suspension with granular rheology, that was recently proposed by Boyer et al. [PRL, 107(18),188301 (2011)]. It is shown that for the simple channel flow geometry, the stress model naturally exhibits a Bingham type flow property with an unyielded finite-size zone in the center of the channel. As the volume fraction of the solid phase is increased, the various transitions in the flow fields are discussed using phase space methods for a boundary value problem, that is derived from the full model. The predictions of this analysis is then compared to the direct finite-element numerical solutions of the full model.
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    Surface induced phase separation of a swelling hydrogel
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2018) Hennessy, Matthew G.; Münch, Andreas; Wagner, Barbara
    We present a formulation of the free boundary problem for a hydrogel that accounts for the interfacial free energy and finite strain due to the large deformation of the polymer network during solvent transport across the free boundary. For the geometry of an initially dry layer fixed at a rigid substrate, our model predicts a phase transition when a critical value of the solvent concentration has been reached near the free boundary. A one-dimensional case study shows that depending on the flux rate at the free boundary an initial saturation front is followed by spinodal decomposition of the hydrogel and the formation of an interfacial front that moves through the layer. Moreover, increasing the shear modulus of the elastic network delays or even suppresses phase separation.
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    Spin coating of an evaporating polymer solution
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2010) Münch, Andreas; Please, Colin P.; Wagner, Barbara
    We consider a mathematical model of spin coating of a single polymer blended in a solvent. The model describes the one-dimensional development of the thin layer of the mixture as the layer thins due to flow created by a balance of viscous forces and centrifugal forces and due to evaporation of the solvent. In the model both the diffusivity of the solvent in the polymer and the viscosity of the mixture are very rapidly varying functions of the solvent volume fraction. Guided by numerical solutions an asymptotic analysis reveals a number of different possible behaviours of the thinning layer dependent on the nondimensional parameters describing the system. The main practical interest is in controlling the appearance and development of a ``skin'' on the polymer where the solvent concentration reduces rapidly on the outer surface leaving the bulk of the layer still with high concentrations of solvent. The critical parameters controlling this behaviour are found to be eps the ratio of the diffusion to advection time scales, delta the ratio of the evaporation to advection time scales and exp(-gamma), the ratio of the diffusivity of the initial mixture and the pure polymer. In particular, our analysis shows that for very small evaporation with delta ll exp(-3/(4gamma)) eps^3/4 skin formation can be prevented
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    Thin-film models for viscoelastic liquid bi-layers
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2015) Jachalski, Sebastian; Münch, Andreas; Wagner, Barbara
    In this work we consider a two-layer system of viscoelastic liquids of corotational Jeffreys type dewetting from a Newtonian liquid substrates. We derive conditions that allow for the first time the asymptotically consistent reduction of the free boundary problem for the two-layer system to a system of coupled thin-film equations that incorporate the full nonlinear viscoelastic rheology. We show that these conditions are controlled by the order of magnitude of the viscosity ratio of the liquid layers and their thickness ratio. For pure Newtonian flow, these conditions lead to a thin-film model that couples a layer with a parabolic flow field to a layer described by elongational flow. For this system we establish asymptotic regimes that relate the viscosity ratio to a corresponding apparent slip. We then use numerical simulations to discuss the characteristic morphological and dynamical properties of viscoelastic films of corotational Jeffreys type dewetting from a solid as well as liquid substrate.
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    Structure formation in thin liquid-liquid films
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2017) Bommer, Stefan; Jachalski, Sebastian; Peschka, Dirk; Seemann, Ralf; Wagner, Barbara
    We revisit the problem of a liquid polymer that dewets from another liquid polymer substrate with the focus on the direct comparison of results from mathematical modeling, rigorous analysis, numerical simulation and experimental investigations of rupture, dewetting dynamics and equilibrium patterns of a thin liquid-liquid system. The experimental system uses as a model system a thin polystyrene (PS) / polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) bilayer of a few hundred nm. The polymer systems allow for in situ observation of the dewetting process by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and for a precise ex situ imaging of the liquidliquid interface. In the present study, the molecular chain length of the used polymers is chosen such that the polymers can be considered as Newtonian liquids. However, by increasing the chain length, the rheological properties of the polymers can be also tuned to a viscoelastic flow behavior. The experimental results are compared with the predictions based on the thin film models. The system parameters like contact angle and surface tensions are determined from the experiments and used for a quantitative comparison. We obtain excellent agreement for transient drop shapes on their way towards equilibrium, as well as dewetting rim profiles and dewetting dynamics.
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    Impact of interfacial slip on the stability of liquid two-layer polymer films
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2012) Jachalski, Sebastian; Peschka, Dirk; Münch, Andreas; Wagner, Barbara
    In this study systems of coupled thin-film models for two immiscible liquid polymer layers on a solid substrate that account for interfacial slip and intermolecular forces are derived. On the scale of tens to hundred nanometers such two-layer systems are susceptable to instability and may rupture and dewet. The stability of the two-layer system and its significant dependence on the order of magnitude of slip is investigated via these thin-film models. With no-slip at both, the liquid-liquid and liquid-solid interface and polymer layers of comparable thickness, the dispersion relation typically shows two local maxima, one in the long-wave regime and the other at moderate wavenumbers. The former is associated with perturbations that mainly affect the gas-liquid interface and the latter with higher relative perturbation amplitudes at the liquid-liquid interface. Slip at the liquid-liquid interface generally favors the former perturbations. However, when the liquid-liquid and the liquidsolid interface exhibit large slip, the maxima shift to small wavenumbers for increasing slip and hence may significantly change the spinodal patterns.