Microstructured materials, such as emulsions and polymer blends,
crystals, thin films and metallic alloys, blood and biological tissues, are
fundamental to many applications involving transport, mixing, and
separation of petroleum, chemical, and waste streams, food processing,
composite materials, drug delivery and biomedical applications.
These diverse materials share the common feature that the microscale
and macroscale are linked. The phenomena at microscopic scale, such as
the morphological instability of crystalline precipitates
and drop deformation, break-up and coalescence,
determine the microstructure and its time evolution;
thus affecting the rheology and mechanical properties of the materials
on the macroscale.
The goal of our research is to provide a
quantitative understanding of microstructured materials by two
steps:
(1). detailed description of the phenomena at the microscale;
(2). linking the microstructural phenomena and the macroscopic
behavior.
We specialize in the use of nonlinear analysis
and the development and use of state-of-the-art
adaptive numerical algorithms (capable of bridging wide ranges in length scales)
to study microstructured materials.
Current projects include:
Multiphase Flows,
Crystal Growth,
Nanostructure Patterning,
Metallic Alloys,
Tumor Growth,
Tissue Engineering.