EIU Department of Physics

Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Molecular Dynamics (MD) Simulation is a computational method that has been widely applied to research in physical sciences (for example, simulation of carbon nanotubes), life sciences (for example, simulation of biological macromolecules) and engineering. It is a powerful computational tool which can be used to keep track of (on a computer) the motions of tens of thousands of individual atoms or molecules, and at the same time allow researchers to observe what happens to the group as a whole.

We have applied this method to the simulations of multi-planetary systems and the study of the kinetic theory of real gases. We are currently applying this method to the study of nanofluids, which are fluids with suspended nanoparticles. Studies have shown that nanofluids have unusual thermal conductivity, but a thorough understanding is still yet to be achieved. This research is led by Dr. Zou.