Stochastic Processes in Polymeric Fluids: Tools and Examples for Developing Simulation Algorithms

A SPECTER is haunting the scientific world-the specter of com­ puters. All the powers of traditional science have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this specter: puristic theoreticians and tradition­ alistic experimentalists, editors and referees of prestigious journals, philosophers of science and mathematicians. Where is a pioneering computer simulation that has not been decried as unreliable by its opponents in power? The Computer Manifesto As a result of the enormous progress in computer technology made during the last few decades, computer simulations have become a very powerful and widely applicable tool in science and engineering. The main purpose of this . book is a comprehensive description of the background and possibilities for the application of computer simulation techniques in polymer fluid dynamics. Mod­ eling and understanding the flow behavior of polymeric liquids on the kinetic theory level is not merely a great intellectual challenge but rather a matter of immense practical importance, for example, in connection with plastics manu­ facture, processing of foods, and movement of biological fluids. The classical computer simulation technique for static problems in statis­ tical mechanics is the Monte Carlo method developed in the early 1950s. The name of this method underlines how unusual and strange the idea of using ran­ dom numbers in the exact sciences is at first glance. However, the Monte Carlo method is a rigorous and efficient means for evaluating moments and static spa­ tial correlation functions for given probability distributions.