Energy-conserving dissipative particle dynamics simulation of macromolecular solution flow in micro-channel under thermal convection

Macromolecule migration coupled with heat transfer exists widely in engineering problems. Understanding the mechanisms is of great significance both for biochemical engineering and micro/nanotechnology. In this paper, the energy-conserving dissipative particle dynamics (eDPD) is extended to investigate the flow of macromolecular solutions and macromolecule behaviors in a micro-channel subjected to thermal convection. The velocity and stress fields of macromolecular solutions with different thermal convection conditions and concentrations, as well as their coupling effects are comparatively analyzed. Then, the distribution of macromolecular centroids and behaviors including stretching, winding and folding under different thermal convection conditions are investigated systemically. The results show that thermal convection has an obvious influence on the probability distribution of centroids and the migration behaviors of macromolecules. This paper provides a new way to explore the complex dynamics behaviors of macromolecules under thermal convection.