Perspectives in Multiscale Materials Modeling

Abstract

The research area of computational science and multiscale modeling of materials has not completely come to age yet. The prevalent procedure in multiscale modeling is to find designed solutions for each individual problem to be solved. There are no real standard procedures that can be applied for any model on any scale. This has to do with the variety of the structural complexity of systems on different length scales, but also with the artificial human separation into several scales and methods applicable on these scales. Nature itself does not make such a distinction and the theoretical development of methods is thus far from being exhaustive. Therefore, in this monograph, we focused on the fundamental physical theories and mathematical basics that are generally valid and can be applied on the different scales and which will not become obsolete for years to come. Perhaps the most interesting progress in multiscale computational science can be expected in the area of biological systems where more and more physicists, computer scientists and mathematicians are entering the field of genomics, drug design, systems biology, molecular modeling of enzymes, proteins, lipids and other complex biological molecular structures. What is really needed, is to overcome the traditional boundaries of knowledge and research and their artificial partition into “biology”, “chemistry”, “physics” and so forth. This is necessary, as multiscale computational science truly requires knowledge and experience in different disciplines of research.