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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/R52190/01
Title: Mathematical modelling surfactant driven flows
Principal Investigator: Howell, Dr P
Other Investigators:
Darton, Professor RC Bain, Professor CD
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Professor C Breward
Project Partners:
Department: Mathematical Institute
Organisation: University of Oxford
Scheme: Fast Stream
Starts: 01 October 2001 Ends: 30 September 2003 Value (£): 61,064
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Continuum Mechanics
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Chemicals No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
The proposed research concerns surfactants: dissolved species that may be adsorbed at a liquid-air interface, in which case they lower its surface energy. Two experiments, involving an overflowing cylinder and a liquid jet, are currently being carried out with a view to understanding of the behaviour of surfactants under dynamic conditions. Their results indicate that, at low concentration, ionic effects arising from the formation of an electrical double layer at the interface play a particularly important role, tending to impede the adsorption of surfactant. At high concentration, moreover, dissolved surfactant molecules associate to form micelles, with markedly different adsorption characteristics. Both ionic and micellar effects are known experimentally to be strongly influenced by the addition of salt to the solution. Furthermore, in many experimental and practical regimes, the interface is known to be out of thermodynamic equilibrium, in which case the standard identification of surface tension with surface energy fails.The aim of the proposed research is to derive new mathematical models describing (i) ionic effects, (ii) micellar effects and (iii) nonequilibrium effects on surfactant solutions, including the influence of salt. The mathematical project will run alongside existing experimental investigations so that each will benefit from the insight gained in the other.
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Organisation Website: http://www.ox.ac.uk