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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Confocal Imaging of Confined Quiescent and Flowing Colloid-polymer Mixtures
Published on: May 20, 2014
Multi-particle collision dynamics simulations of sedimenting colloidal dispersions in confinement
Adam Wysocki1, C Patrick Royall, Roland G Winkler
1Institut für Theoretische Physik II, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf Universitätsstrasse 1, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. adam@thphy.uni-duesseldorf.de
Abstract:
The sedimentation of an initially inhomogeneous distribution of hard-sphere colloids confined in a slit is simulated using the multi-particle collision dynamics scheme which takes into account hydrodynamic interactions mediated by the solvent. This system is an example for soft matter driven out of equilibrium where various length and time scales are involved. The initial laterally homogeneous density profiles exhibit a hydrodynamic Rayleigh-Taylor-like instability. Solvent backflow effects lead to an intricate non-linear behaviour which is analyzed via the solvent flow field and the colloidal velocity correlation function. Our simulation data are in good agreement with real-space microscopy experiments.
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