Introduction to Percolation Theory
Muhammad Sahimi, USC presents The Effect of Connectivity of Microscopic Elements of Disordered Systems on their Macroscopic Properties: Introduction to Percolation Theory
| What | Seminar |
|---|---|
| When |
2005-04-14 04:00 PM
2005-04-14 05:00 PM
April 14, 2005 from 04:00 pm to 05:00 pm |
| Where | PES 3001 |
| Contact Name | Muhammad Sahimi |
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Muhammad Sahimi from the University of Southern California leads a seminar titled The Effect of Connectivity of Microscopic Elements of Disordered Systems on their Macroscopic Properties: Introduction to Percolation Theory. All are invited to attend.
If the streets of Los Angeles are randomly closed (which is often seemingly the case), what is the minimum number of streets that must be open in order for a driver to start from the Pacific Ocean on the Westside and reach the USC medical school on the Eastside? In these times of high oil and gasoline prices, if we inject water into an oil reservoir in order to increase oil production, how should the water front advance in the reservoir in order to produce more oil? If a composite material is composed of conducting and nonconducting elements, what is the minimum volume fraction of the conducting elements in order for the composite as a whole to be conducting? If monomers are reacting in a reaction bath to form a large molecule, what is the minimum fraction of reacted monomers in order for the molecule to become rigid and behave like a solid material? How does people knowing each other and talking to one another affect their voting patterns? These and similar questions can be answered by using percolation theory which quantifies the effect of the connectivity of the microscopic elements (streets, pores that are filled with water, conducting elements, monomers, people, ...) of disordered systems (Los Angeles, an oil reservoirs, society, ...) on their Macroscopic properties (flow of traffic, flow of oil, flow of electric current, ...). In this seminar, the essential elements of percolation theory are described in simple terms and their applications to the above and several other important problems in science and technology are discussed.