Lattice Boltzmann simulations of microemulsions and binary immiscible fluids under shear

Large scale lattice Boltzmann simulations are utilized to investigate spinodal decomposition and structuring effects in binary immiscible and ternary amphiphilic fluid mixtures under shear. We use a highly scalable parallel Fortran 90 code for the implementation of the simulation method and demonstrate that adding surfactant to a system of immiscible fluid constituents can change the mixture’s properties profoundly: stable bicontinuous microemulsions form which undergo a transition from a sponge to a lamellar phase by applying a constant shear. Under oscillatory shear tubular structures can be observed.