Stochastic Processes in Polymeric Fluids: Tools and Examples for Developing Simulation Algorithms - Softcover

Hans Christian Öttinger

 
9783540583530: Stochastic Processes in Polymeric Fluids: Tools and Examples for Developing Simulation Algorithms

Synopsis

A SPECTER is haunting the scientific world-the specter of com­ puters. All the powers of traditional science have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this specter: puristic theoreticians and tradition­ alistic experimentalists, editors and referees of prestigious journals, philosophers of science and mathematicians. Where is a pioneering computer simulation that has not been decried as unreliable by its opponents in power? The Computer Manifesto As a result of the enormous progress in computer technology made during the last few decades, computer simulations have become a very powerful and widely applicable tool in science and engineering. The main purpose of this . book is a comprehensive description of the background and possibilities for the application of computer simulation techniques in polymer fluid dynamics. Mod­ eling and understanding the flow behavior of polymeric liquids on the kinetic theory level is not merely a great intellectual challenge but rather a matter of immense practical importance, for example, in connection with plastics manu­ facture, processing of foods, and movement of biological fluids. The classical computer simulation technique for static problems in statis­ tical mechanics is the Monte Carlo method developed in the early 1950s. The name of this method underlines how unusual and strange the idea of using ran­ dom numbers in the exact sciences is at first glance. However, the Monte Carlo method is a rigorous and efficient means for evaluating moments and static spa­ tial correlation functions for given probability distributions.

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From the Back Cover

This book consists of two strongly interweaved parts: the mathematical theory of stochastic processes and its applications to molecular theories of polymeric fluids. The comprehensive mathematical background provided in the first part should be equally useful in many other branches of engineering and the natural sciences. As a benefit from the second part one gains a more direct understanding of polymer dynamics, one can more easily identify exactly solvable models, and one can develop efficient computer simulation algorithms in a straightforward manner. In view of the many examples and exercises, on the one hand, and the numerous applications to problems from the front line of science, on the other hand, this volume may be used equally well as a basic textbook or as an up-to-date reference book.

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