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ABSTRACT
The dynamics and rheology of particles in a Newtonian fluid subjected to shear are simulated using Lattice Boltzmann Method. A computationally-efficient Smoothed Profile Method is used to resolve fluid-solid interactions, and the Lennard-Jones inter-particle potential is implemented to account for inter-particle forces. The use of a bi-periodic computational domain with Lees-Edward boundary conditions allows simulation for systems consisting of a large number of particles under shear. The method is validated for single and dual particle problems and an analysis is performed for multi-particle problems under a range of shear rates and particle fractions. The introduction of particle-particle interactions, which are physically important in many engineering processes, is found to have a considerable impact on the dynamics, agglomeration and rheology. The total stress exhibits high unsteadiness primarily due to the solid component contribution, at higher particle fractions. The simulations underscore the complex interplay between shear, interparticle forces and agglomeration and the complex dependencies of the rheological properties.
GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the International Cooperation and Exchange of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51620105011) and the Catalysis Research for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells (CaRPE-FC) strategic research network funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Automotive Partnership Canada. Computing resources were provided by Compute Canada. The authors also benefitted from useful discussions with Prof. Xun Zhu, Chongqing University.