Simulating the rheology of surfactant solution using dissipative particle dynamics

Abstract

Reverse non-equilibrium (RNE) method is applied to investigate the rheological properties of surfactant solutions by using dissipative particle dynamics algorithm. Results show that the surfactant solutions exhibit a shear-thinning behaviour. With the strengthening of shear, the worm-like micelles are gradually oriented in the x direction and then broken up into small spherical micelles. The process is also shown by the decrease of viscosity, which starts quickly, levels off for moderate shear rates and speeds up again over a critical value. We find that this critical value is independent of surfactant concentration. Compared with the shear flow method, the RNE method is credible for moderate shear rate and has more computational efficiency.