Dr. Bamin Khomami

Our research program primarily deals with engineering of materials with a desired micro- or nano-structure as well as application of nanotechnology including large scale integrated nano/micro fluidic devices to biology, chemistry, and medicine. The main focus is on the study of

1. dynamics of complex fluids including polymeric and biological fluids, fiber suspensions, and colloidal systems,
2. aerosol based processing of nano-structured particles and coatings,
3. pecifically decorated (lipid mixtures and targeting moieties) nano-emulsions for drug delivery and personalized medicine.

Our approach relies on development of multi-scale simulations strategies by integrating essential information from different scales, i.e., molecular (molecular dynamics), mesoscopic (Brownian dynamics) and continuum (finite elements and spectral techniques) to uncover the underlying physical principles of poorly understood phenomena as well as predicting system/process level features. In turn the simulation results are coupled with detailed experiments to elucidate important phenomena in a variety of processes. Major projects in these areas include:

1. Flow history-morphology property interactions in complex fluids,
2. Flow transition and pattern formation in simple and complex fluids with applications to micro- and macro rheology and polymer processing,
3. Application of large scale integrated nano/micro fluidic devices with applications to biology, chemistry and medicine,
4. Single molecule physics,
5. Synthesis of nano-structured particles and thin films via aerosol routes,
6. Magnetic emulsion based nano-systems for drug delivery and personalized medicine.

• Pattern Formation in Taylor-Couette Flow of Dilute Polymeric Solutions: Dynamical Simulations and Mechanism, D.G. Thomas, R. Sureshkumar and B. Khomami, Phys. Rev. Lett., 97,054501 (2006).
• Turbulent Channel Flow of Dilute Polymeric Solutions: Drag Reduction Scaling and Eddy Viscosity Model, V. K. Gupta, C-F Li, R. Sureshkumar, and B. Khomami, J. Non-Newt. Fluid Mech., 139, 177 (2006).
• The Influence of Polymer Concentration and Chain Architecture on Free Surface Displacement Flows of Polymeric Liquids, G. Bhatara, E. S. G. Shaqfeh and B. Khomami, J. Rheology, 49, 929 (2005).
• The effect of confinement on the Dynamics and Rheology of Dilute DNA solutions. Part II: Effective Rheology and Single Chain Dynamics, N. Woo, E. S. G. Shaqfeh and B. Khomami, J. Rheol. 48, 299 (2004).
• Simulation of Particle Dynamics and Transport in Chemically Reacting Particulate Matter Laden Flows, Part II: CVD Reactor Studies, S. Kommu, B. Khomami, and P. Biswas , Chem. Eng. Sci., 59,359 (2004).
• Thermo-mechanical Instabilities in Dean and Taylor-Couette Flows: Mechanisms and Scaling Laws, D. G. Thomas, R. Sureshkumar and B. Khomami, J. Fluid Mech. 517, 251(2004).
• A Density Functional View of Transition State Theory: Simulating the Rates at Which Si Adatoms Hop on a Silicon Surface, S. Somasi, B. Khomami, and R. Lovett, J. Chem. Phys., 119, 9783 (2003).
• Brownian Dynamics Simulations of Bead-Rod and Bead-Spring Chains: Numerical Algorithms and Coarse Graining Issues, M. Somasi, B. Khomami, N. Woo, J. Hur and E. S. G. Shaqfeh, J. Non-Newt. Fluid Mech. 108, 227 (2002).
• Adaptive Configuration Fields: A New Multiscale Simulation Technique for Reptation based Models with a Stochastic Strain Measure and Local Variations of Life Span Distribution, P. G. Gigras and B. Khomami, J. Non-Newt. Fluid Mech. 108, 99 (2002).
• A New Approach for Studying the Hydrodynamic Stability of Fluids with Microstructure, M. Somasi and B. Khomami, Phys. Fluids.13,1811 (2001).