Professor Schieber actively researches the kinetic theory of macromolecules to model the rheological, thermodynamic, and thermal behavior of polymeric liquids. These kinetic theory models are then used to predict the properties of advanced materials during and after processing. Instead, these materials display a rich variety of properties that can be viscous, like Newtonian fluids, or elastic, like rubber, or something in between. Typically kinetic theory models must be solved using computer simulation techniques. In Professor Schieber's research group, students use molecular dynamics or Brownian dynamics simulations to study the dynamics of the polymers.
Polymeric fluids are extremely viscous.
Thus, large forces and pressure drops are required to process them. These large pressure drops, combined with large viscosities, cause substantial viscous heating effects which give rise to large temperature gradients. Since the materials are very temperature sensitive, the flow field must be solved simultaneously with the temperature field for accurate predictions. By combining standard numerical techniques for macroscopic balance equations, such as finite element methods, with microscopic stochastic simulations, such as Brownian dynamics, Professor Schieber's research group uses kinetic theory models to predict flow fields, temperature fields, and concentration fields of polymeric liquids. Polymeric materials possess very interesting thermodynamic properties during flow, which lead to vastly different energy governing equations.