General rigid bead-rod theory with hydrodynamic interaction for polymer viscoelasticity

Abstract

General rigid bead-rod theory is actively used for connecting the complex viscosity of polymeric liquids to the structure of macromolecules. Using general rigid bead-rod theory, the rheological properties of polymeric liquids have been investigated theoretically and applied practically. In this paper, we include the hydrodynamic interaction of the nearest neighboring beads into general rigid bead-rod theory. By applying our new method, structure by structure, to backbone branched macromolecular configurations, we investigate the interplay of hydrodynamic interaction with the number of branches, branch length, and branch positions. We learn that the effect of hydrodynamic interaction is greater in branched macromolecules than in unbranched. In the future, this method will play an important role in the study of the rheological properties of polymeric liquids, wherever hydrodynamic interaction matters.