Simulation of amphiphilic mesophases using dissipative particle dynamics

Abstract

We study a dense solution of an amphiphilic species using the dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) algorithm, focussing on the smectic mesophase. Since DPD is locally momentum-conserving, it gives at large length scales a faithful representation of the isothermal hydrodynamics of the system. Results are presented for the phase diagram of a minimal amphiphile model, consisting of rigid AB dimers in a solution of C monomers, for the coarsening dynamics of a polydomain smectic phase, and for the formation of a monodomain smectic when shear is applied.