Open Access

Wo Laborexperimente zu aufwendig, zu teuer, zu langsam oder zu gefährlich oder Stoffeigenschaften gar nicht erst experimentell zugänglich sind, können Computersimulationen von Atomen und Molekülen diese ersetzen oder ergänzen. Sie ermöglichen dadurch Reduktion von Kosten, Entwicklungszeit und Materialeinsatz. Die für diese Simulationen benötigten Molekülmodelle beinhalten zahlreiche Parameter, die der Simulant einstellen oder auswählen muss. Eine passende Parametrierung ist nur bei entsprechenden Kenntnissen über die Auswirkungen der Parameter auf die zu berechnenden Größen und Eigenschaften möglich. Eine Gruppe von Standardparametern in molekularen Simulationen sind die Partialladungen der einzelnen Atome innerhalb eines Moleküls. Die räumliche Ladungsverteilung innerhalb des Moleküls wird durch Punktladungen auf den Atomzentren angenähert. Für diese Annäherung existieren diverse Ansätze für verschiedene Molekülklassen und Anwendungen. In diesem Teilprojekt des Promotionsvorhabens wurde systematisch der Einfluss der Wahl des Partialladungssatzes auf potentielle Energien und ausgewählte makroskopische Eigenschaften aus Molekulardynamik-Simulationen evaluiert. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass insbesondere bei stark polaren Molekülen die Auswahl des geeigneten Partialladungssatzes entscheidenden Einfluss auf die Simulationsergebnisse hat und daher nicht naiv, sondern nur ganz gezielt getroffen werden darf.

A traditional way to teach bachelor students in electrical engineering is organized such that theoretical knowledge is predominant in the first year while applications and practical experiences are reserved for later stages of their education. In this contribution, we want to introduce a reverse approach: In a freshmen course at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Science, students gain hands-on experience with resistances, condensers and other active parts, like transistors or relays from the very first day. We present how the combination of practical experience directly linked with theoretical knowledge enhances students' learning. It promotes deeper understanding of the theory and a better transfer between theory and practice. This teaching approach is adapted to address two main goals: First, to give practical experience to first-semester students as a basis for further laboratory and working situations. Second, to create a deeper and more sustainable understanding of physics by directly observing the effects that are described in formulas. The key to success is to find an efficient solution to carry out this approach with the given spatial and financial resources-which means, to do it in the lecture hall with very few material resources. To show that this innovative teaching concept really enhances the competencies of the students, an innovative evaluation approach was used where the students have to reflect upon their competencies before and after the course.

Experimental data on the interfacial tension of ionic liquids in CO2 and CH4 atmospheres at elevated pressures (up to 20 MPa and 353 K) are presented and discussed. In addition, molecular modeling is utilized to describe the thermophysical properties under process-relevant conditions. Molecular modeling has the potential to predict findings in order to avoid costly experiments in the future and to explain the principal behavior of the whole system in terms of simulated concentration profiles. The interfacial tension is recognized to be an important quantity in a number of processes, e.g., for describing multiphase flow. By dissolving within the liquid phase, gases reduce the interfacial tension, which in turn is closely related to the phase behavior. It is shown that the experimentally determined interfacial tension, which decreases from values of 50 mN·m–1 under atmospheric conditions down to 10 mN·m–1 in CO2 but still above 30 mN·m–1 in CH4 at 10 MPa, is appropriately reflected by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The obtained data are analyzed in view of literature data and by using experimentally determined pressure-dependent densities and solubilities of CH4 and CO2 within ionic liquids. The results form part of a database for the ongoing development of MD simulations.

Ionic liquids are highly relevant for industrial applications as they stand out due to their special chemical and physical features, e.g. low vapor pressure, low melting point or extraordinary solution properties. The goal of this work is to study the capability of the three ionic liquids [C2MIM][NTf2], [C12MIM][NTf2] and [C2MIM][EtSO4] to diffuse through a POPC membrane (1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine). To achieve this, we used molecular simulation techniques, which on the one hand give insight into specific domains of the membrane and on the other hand compute partition coefficients and free energy profiles of solutes in lipid membranes, which cannot be measured by labor experiments. To be as accurate as possible we parameterized a new united atom force field for the ionic liquid of type 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazoliumethylsulfate [CnMIM][EtSO4] with n = 1,2,4,6,8. Like the other IL force field for [CnMIM][NTf2] (see Köddermann et al., ChemPhysChem 14, 3368–3374, 2013) used in this work, the new one was derived to reproduce experimental densities and self-diffusion coefficients. The new force field reproduces the experimental data extremely well. Using this force field, the influences of cation and anion exchanges as well as the variation of the chain length on the free energy could be analyzed. We performed umbrella-sampling to characterize the free energy profile of one ion pair, accompanied by a second one, in solution, at the membrane interface, and inside the membrane. In the outlook we present our intention to parameterize force fields in a systematic and user-friendly way. We will use the combination of two optimization toolkits, developed at SCAI: The global optimization toolkit CoSMoS and the local optimization techniques implemented in the software package GROW.

In light of emobility, the development of efficiency improved drivetrain components will also have a high priority. Whereas for conventional vehicle propulsion systems (i.e. combustion type engines) the avoidance of CO2 penalty was in strong focus, for electrified vehicles it is the impact on vehicle range. For GKN Driveline as the world's leading supplier of driveline components and systems, the prediction of energy savings is of particular importance in order to quantify the benefit of efficiency optimizations on the energy consumption of the vehicles. This paper gives an introduction to a simplified and transparent method of modelling to provide a basic understanding of the impact of efficiency improvements. Hereby it is shown, that with the increasing electrification of the drivetrain, the optimization of the efficiency in the mechanical path of power transmission will become even more important.

In dieser Dissertation stellen wir einen neuen Ansatz zur Modellierung von Polymersystemen vor. Es werden (von methodischer Seite her) zwei automatisierte Iterationschemata dazu eingeführt, Kraftfeldparameter mesoskopischer Polymersysteme systematisch zu optimieren: Das Simplex-Verfahren und das Struktur-Differenzen-Verfahren. So werden diejenigen Freiheitsgrade aus Polymersystemen eliminiert, die eine hohe Auflösung erfordern, was die Modellierung größerer Systeme ermöglicht. Nach Tests an einfachen Flüssigkeiten werden vergröberte Modelle von drei prototypischen Polymeren (Polyacrylsäure, Polyvinylalkohol und Polyisopren) in unterschiedlichen Umgebungen (gutes Lösungsmittel und Schmelze) entwickelt und ihr Verhalten auf der Mesoskala ausgiebig geprüft. Die zugehörige Abbildung (von physikalischer Seite her) so zu gestalten, daß sie die unverwechselbaren Charakteristiken jedes Systems auf die mesoskopische Längenskala überträgt, stellt eine entscheidende Anforderung an die automatisierten Verfahren dar.

There exists a disturbing controversy in the literature about the sign of the Soret effect in binary mixtures of modelfluids (Lennard-Jones atoms), whose components differ only in their molecular diameter. For such mixtures, the dependence of the Soret coefficient on the state (liquid versus supercritical), on the system size and on details of handling the range and the cutoff of the Lennard-Jones potential is examined by molecular-dynamics simulations. We establish unambiguously the direction of the Soret effect: Under all circumstances investigated, large particles are driven to the hot region. At supercritical densities, the Soret effect is considerably smaller than in the dense liquid and, furthermore, details of the attractive tail of the Lennard-Jones potential become much more important.

At the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (BRSU), Germany, students of engineering sciences are trained in thinking and acting like an engineer right from the start - by creating a Rube Goldberg machine in an introductory project, organized with SCRUM techniques.

Computer simulations of chemical systems, especially systems of condensed matter, are highly important for both scientific and industrial applications. Thereby, molecular interactions are modeled on a microscopic level in order to study their impact on macroscopic phenomena. To be capable of predicting physical properties quantitatively, accurate molecular models are indispensable. Molecular interactions are described mathematically by force fields, which have to be parameterized. Recently, an automated gradient-based optimization procedure was published by the authors based on the minimization of a loss function between simulated and experimental physical properties. The applicability of gradient-based procedures is not trivial at all because of two reasons: firstly, simulation data are affected by statistical noise, and secondly, the molecular simulations required for the loss function evaluations are extremely time-consuming. Within the optimization process, gradients and Hessians were approximated by finite differences so that additional simulations for the respective modified parameter sets were required. Hence, a more efficient approach to computing gradients and Hessians is presented in this work. The method developed here is based on directional instead of partial derivatives. It is compared with the classical computations with respect to computation time. Firstly, molecular simulations are replaced by fit functions that define a functional dependence between specific physical observables and force field parameters. The goal of these simulated simulations is to assess the new methodology without much computational effort. Secondly, it is applied to real molecular simulations of the three chemical substances phosgene, methanol and ethylene oxide. It is shown that up to 75% of the simulations can be avoided using the new algorithm.