Bond fluctuation model

The BFM (bond fluctuation model or bond fluctuation method) is a lattice model for simulating the conformation and dynamics of polymer systems. There are two versions of the BFM used: The earlier version was first introduced by I. Carmesin and Kurt Kremer in 1988,and the later version by J. Scott Shaffer in 1994.Conversion between models is possible. The BFM (bond fluctuation model or bond fluctuation method) is a lattice model for simulating the conformation and dynamics of polymer systems. There are two versions of the BFM used: The earlier version was first introduced by I. Carmesin and Kurt Kremer in 1988,and the later version by J. Scott Shaffer in 1994.Conversion between models is possible. In this model the monomers are represented by cubes on a regular cubic lattice with each cube occupying eight lattice positions. Each lattice position can only be occupied by one monomer in order to model excluded volume. The monomers are connected by a bond vector, which is taken from a set of typically 108 allowed vectors. There are different definitions for this vector set. One example for a bond vector set is made up from the six base vectors below using permutation and sign variation of the three vector components in each direction: The resulting bond lengths are 2 , 5 , 6 , 3 {displaystyle 2,{sqrt {5}},{sqrt {6}},3} and 10 {displaystyle {sqrt {10}}} . The combination of bond vector set and monomer shape in this model ensures that polymer chains cannot cross each other, without explicit test of the local topology.