Effect of the solid surface topology on minimising the slip of soft gels - EC5

Description Soft gels are important materials for industry (e.g. cosmetics and food industries). Soft gels slide over smooth solid surfaces. This apparent slip may occur due to various microscopic phenomena such as the formation of an infinitesimal lubrication layer of the solvent and/or elastic deformation of the suspended soft particles in the vicinity of the solid surfaces. In this project, we investigate the effect of the topology of the crenelated solid surface on minimising the slip. The main tool is using computational fluid dynamics in this study. Key Objectives Review the literature related to the topic Get familiar with CFD tools appropriate for solving sliding flows Run the simulations with different toopologies Get insights for desining an ideal surface