8th Liquid Matter Conference September 6-10, 2011 Wien, Austria ...

P4.20Fri 911:10-14:00Viscoelasticity of semiflexible fibers in a hydrodynamicsolventT. A. Hunt, 1 J. T. Padding, 2 and W. J. Briels 31 Computational Biophysics, University of Twente, P. O. Box 217, 7500 AE, Enschede,Netherlands2 Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Austria3 Computational Biophysics, University of Twente, Enschede, NetherlandsSemiflexible fiber and polymer solutions are particularly significant because of their widespreadoccurrence in biological matter. Previous theoretical work has focused on the regimes where thefibres are either at very low or very high concentrations. In this simulation work we are able toalso investigate the cross-over region of intermediate concentrations and include hydrodynamicinteractions between fibers. We simulate coarse grained model fibers in a hydrodynamic solventusing Multi-Particle Collision Dynamics (MPCD) and an algorithm which incorporates steric interactionsbetween fibers [1]. We focus on the viscoelastic properties of the liquid, calculating thestress relaxation modulus G(t) through the shear-stress autocorrelation function, then analysing itsscaling with time. Varying the flexibility and concentration of the chains we are able to characterisethe model liquid over a wide range of conditions and compare them with existing theoreticalpredictions. Our longer term aim is to apply the simulation methods developed here to suspensionsof amyloid fibers. [1] J. T. Padding, J. Chem. Phys. 130, 144903 (2009)20