Multiscale Coupling of Molecular Dynamics and Hydrodynamics: Application to DNA Translocation through a Nanopore

Abstract

We present a multiscale approach to the modeling of polymer dynamics in the presence of a fluid solvent. The approach combines Langevin molecular dynamics (MD) techniques with a mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann (LB) method for the solvent dynamics. A unique feature of the present approach is that hydrodynamic interactions between the solute macromolecule and the aqueous solvent are handled explicitly, and yet in a computationally tractable way due to the dual particle‐field nature of the LB solver. The suitability of the present LB‐MD multiscale approach is demonstrated for the problem of polymer fast translocation through a nanopore. We also provide an interpretation of our results in the context of DNA translocation through a nanopore, a problem that has attracted much theoretical and experimental attention recently.