Numerical simulation on the effects of power-law fluidic properties on the suspension rheology

Abstract

It is important to understand the rheology of suspensions because it has a wide range of relevance from biological to industrial fields. The rheology of suspensions is still unclear due to complexity of various factors. Among the factors that determine the rheological properties, we focused on the spatial arrangement of particles and solvent properties of the suspension. We investigated effects of the power-law fluidic properties of the solvent of suspension on the relative and intrinsic viscosities. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of Reynolds number on the rheology of the suspension. We performed a numerical simulation of pressure-driven suspension flows in 2D. The suspension had different solvents properties depends on the power-law model. The bulk flow was simulated by using the lattice Boltzmann method. The power-law model was used to represent the flow properties of the solvent. The particle shape was described on the Cartesian grid using the virtual flux method. The relative and intrinsic viscosities of the suspensions were discussed by property changes in the suspension rheology such as shear-thinning, Newtonian, and shear-thickening. The results showed that the higher power-law index of the solvent caused higher relative and intrinsic viscosities. Furthermore, Reynolds number had little influence on the relative and intrinsic viscosities of the suspension when the Reynolds number was under Re = 12.

Keywords

• effective viscosity
• einstein’s viscosity formula
• non-newtonian fluid
• power-law fluid
• rheology
• two-way coupling