Abstract
Aqueous solutions of amphiphilic molecules which reversibly assemble into well defined polydisperse rod-like aggregates display a characteristic sequence of lyotropic mesophases including translational as well as orientational ordering. We have developed a model for such systems which incorporates a phenomenological description of aggregate assembly with a scaled particle calculation of the configurational entropy in the fluid dimensions and a cell theory description of the configurational entropy in the translationally ordered dimensions. The model reproduces many of the features seen in the experimental phase diagrams, including regions of isotropic, nematic, columnar and crystalline stability. In addition to the calculated phase diagram, related aggregate size distributions are reported.