Simulation of the sedimentation of aggregating particles

The methods of the thermodynamics of irreversible processes are used to construct a three-phase model of a suspension that takes into account the formation of aggregates from suspended particles and the trapping of part of the carrier fluid in the aggregates. The model makes it possible to describe both the motion of the aggregates relative to the carrier fluid as well as the flow of the fluid through the structure of the aggregate, and also the elastic properties of the aggregates. In the framework of the model, a study is made of the problem of one-dimensional sedimentation of aggregating particles in a finite tube under the influence of gravity.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 71–78, May–June, 1983.I thank S. A. Regirer for interest in the work and valuable discussions.     

激波诱导含灰气体边界层中的粒子分布

本文研究当激波沿着一个固体表面等速地穿越含灰气体运动时所诱导的层流边界层特性。考虑了作用在气体边界层中球形粒子的 Saffman 升力,建议了一种计算近壁区中弥散相密度剖面的方法,并给出了数值计算结果。本文结果表明:在激波后方存在着一个弯曲的薄层区域,其中的粒子密度可以比其波前原始值增加许多倍。这种粒子聚集效应对于工业中粉尘爆炸等实际问题具有重要意义。     

Particle and drop dynamics in the flow behind a shock wave

The results of an investigation of the dynamics of hard particles and liquid drops in the flow behind a transmitted shock wave are presented. From the equation of motion of a particle in the shock wave, relations for the displacement, velocity and acceleration as functions of time and certain velocity-relaxation parameters taking into account the properties of the gas and the aerodynamic drag of the particles are obtained for unsteady flow around the particles at an acceleration of 10³–10⁴ m/s². It is shown that the velocity-relaxation parameters are universal. Approaches to finding the aerodynamic drag of freely-accelerating bodies from the dynamics of their acceleration after being suddenly exposed to the flow are considered. It is established that under these conditions the drop dynamics observed can be well described in terms of the same velocity-relaxation parameters with account for linear growth of the transverse drop size. All the kinematic functions obtained are confirmed experimentally.     

Turbulence modulation in dilute particle-laden flow

A new particle source term to account for the effect of particles on the turbulence equations based on the Euler/Lagrange approach is introduced and compared with existing models and experimental data. Three different sizes of particles are considered to cover the range of large particles, where augmentation of the carrier phase turbulence is expected, and small particles, for which attenuation is expected. The new model is derived directly from the balance equations of fluid flow and represents a combination of the so-called standard and consistent approaches. The performance of the new model surpasses that of the standard and consistent models and it is able to predict both the suppression and enhancement of fluid turbulence for small and large particles.     

Multi-fluid model of suspension filtration in a porous medium

In the framework of a three-fluid approach, a new model of suspension filtration in a porous medium is constructed with account for the formation of a dense packing of trapped particles with finite permeability and porosity. The following three continua are considered: the carrier fluid, the suspended particles, and the deposited particles. For a one-dimensional transient flow of suspension, a system of equations for the concentrations of the suspended and deposited particles, the suspension velocity, and the pressure is constructed. Two cases of the flow in a porous medium are considered: plane and radial. Numerical solution is found using a finite-difference method. Numerical calculations are shown to be in agreement with an analytical solution for the simplest case of filtration with a constant velocity and constant porosity and permeability. A comparison is performed with the classic filtration models for five sets of experimental data on the contamination of a porous sample. It is shown that near the inlet boundary, where an intense deposition of particles takes place, the new model describes the concentration profile of the deposited particles more accurately than the classical model.     

The distribution of particles in a shock-induced boundary layer of a dusty gas over a solid surface

The laminar boundary layer behind a constant-speed shock wave moving through a dusty gas along a solid surface is studied. The Saffman lift force acting on a spherical particle in a gas boundary layer is taken into account. A method for calculating the density profile of dispersed phase near the wall is proposed and some numerical results are given. It is shown that behind the shock wave, there exists a curved thin layer where the density of particles is many times higher than the original one. This dust collection effect may be of essential importance to the problem of dust explosion in industry.     

Numerical simulation of hydraulic fracture crack propagation

The plane problem of crack motion in an elastic medium under the pressure of a viscous fluid is considered. Under the condition of a constant fluid flow rate, the fluid is injected at the center of the crack. Contrary to other formulations of the problem, this paper attempts to take into account a possible fluid lag behind the crack tip. The resulting numerical solution is compared with a semianalytic one. It is found that the proposed numerical model can be used to predict the characteristics of a hydraulic fracture crack formed in a medium of a prescribed strength.     

Spatial averaging in the mechanics of heterogeneous and dispersed systems

Spatial averaging of the equations describing two single-phase media is separately considered in this paper regarding the volumes occupied by either phase with allowance for the boundary conditions on phase interfaces. The equations obtained are specialized to describe monodispersed mixtures within a “cellular” scheme. It is shown that it is necessary to consider the average values both over the whole cells and over those intersected by the boundary of a selected mixture volume.The problem of motion in the cell is formulated. Fictitious parameters are introduced at “infinity” for the carrier phase to solve the problem. These parameters do not coincide with the average values for this phase. A closed system of equations is derived for two extreme cases: an ideal incompressible carrier fluid and an extremely viscous incompressible carrier fluid. These are correlative with the inertial and viscous motions in the cell.Various effects are discussed in this paper. These include the radial motion of bubbles, the oriented rotation of dispersed particles (the symmetry and asymmetry of stress tensor), viscosity, phase transitions and the finite volume content of dispersed particles. Some aspects of earlier studies are critically analyzed.     

Contamination of a porous bed by a moving front with a finite porosity jump

The contamination of an initially porous bed by a moving low-concentrated suspension is studied. In the framework of a hyperbolic model taking into account large variations of porosity, several exact solutions are given to the problem with a finite porosity jump at the leading contamination front in the case of flows with plane and cylindrical waves. The fact that the particle front lags behind the carrier liquid front is explained. It is shown that the finiteness of the porosity jump at the contamination wave front causes the deceleration in the jump motion, which can be used to determine experimentally the governing parameters of the model. It is also shown that some solutions with several jumps may exist.     

Hydrodynamic formation of stable anisotropic structures in Couette flow of dilute suspensionFormation hydrodynamique pour structures anisotropiques stables dans un flux de Couette d'une suspension diluée

The problem of rotary motion of rigid axially symmetric elongated particles in the Couette flow of dilute suspension with anisotropic carrier fluid is solved. It is shown that the stable stationary solutions of the dynamical set of ordinary differential equations describing the particles rotary motion are possible in the case of forming the stationary anisotropy in the carrier fluid of the suspension. It allows us to detect the stationary orientation of suspended particles and formation of stable anisotropic liquid-crystalline structures in the considered suspension under the action of hydrodynamic forces. The study of rheological properties of such a structured suspension shows that it behaves as a viscoelastic quasi-Newtonian anisotropic liquid medium. To cite this article: E.Yu. Taran et al., C. R. Mecanique 332 (2004).     

Self-similar solutions for unsteady flow behind an exponential shock in an axisymmetric rotating dusty gas

Similarity solutions are obtained for one-dimensional unsteady isothermal and adiabatic flows behind a strong exponential cylindrical shock wave propagating in a rotational axisymmetric dusty gas, which has variable azimuthal and axial fluid velocities. The shock wave is driven by a piston moving with time according to an exponential law. Similarity solutions exist only when the surrounding medium is of constant density. The azimuthal and axial components of the fluid velocity in the ambient medium are assumed to obey exponential laws. The dusty gas is assumed to be a mixture of small solid particles and a perfect gas. To obtain some essential features of the shock propagation, small solid particles are considered as a pseudo-fluid; it is assumed that the equilibrium flow conditions are maintained in the flow field, and that the viscous stresses and heat conduction in the mixture are negligible. Solutions are obtained for the cases when the flow between the shock and the piston is either isothermal or adiabatic, by taking into account the components of the vorticity vector. It is found that the assumption of zero temperature gradient results in a profound change in the density distribution as compared to that for the adiabatic case. The effects of the variation of the mass concentration of solid particles in the mixture \(K_p\) , and the ratio of the density of solid particles to the initial density of the gas \(G_a\) are investigated. A comparison between the solutions for the isothermal and adiabatic cases is also made.     

On the deformation of two droplets in a quasisteady stokes flow

A theoretical method is given for the determination of the shape of two drops (bubbles) moving with constant velocities parallel to their line of centres in a quiescent viscous fluid. The Reynolds numbers for the motions within the fluids are assumed to be sufficiently small that the equations governing these motions are quasisteady Stokes' equations. It is also assumed that the maximum deviation of the interfaces from spherical form is small when compared with the radius of the “equivalent” spherical drop. The paper deduces the first-order pressure distribution exterior and interior to the droplets. Effects of fluid viscosities, capillary numbers and distances between the droplets are taken into account. Special attention is paid to the influence of a solid plane or solid sphere on the shape of a drop (bubble) approaching or receding away from the solid boundary. The obtained solutions may serve as a first iteration of an iterative procedure for determining more accurate flow fields, taking into account the deviation from sphericity of the deformed particles.     

Structure of the interface between magnetic and conventional fluids: Model of immiscible phases

The structure of the flat interface between a two-component magnetic suspension and a conventional nonmagnetizable fluid immiscible with it is investigated with account for the dependence of the free energy of the system on the magnetization gradients, the concentration of magnetic particles, and the bearing phase density. It is shown that at certain values of the problem parameters the volume concentration of magnetic particles strongly increases near the interface, that is, the particles are substantially adsorbed at this surface. The dependence of the surface tension tensor components on the magnetic field stress is determined.     

Symmetry of a periodic array of particles and a viscous fluid flow in the stokes approximation

A suspension in which rigid spherical particles of the same radius form a periodic array is considered. A general solution of the Stokes equations periodic with respect to this array is obtained. With reference to a fluid flow through a fixed array and a shear flow with frozen-in particles it is shown that taking the array structure and the symmetry of the conditions on the particle surface into account leads to a considerable simplification of the problem and makes it possible to determine the velocity and pressure distributions over the fluid.     

Translationally nonequilibrium free jet boundary layer in the wake behind a wedge

Macroscopic equations obtained as a thin-layer version of the 13-moment Grad equations derived from kinetic considerations are used for describing the translationally nonequilibrium monatomic gas flow in a hypersonic free jet boundary layer formed in the wake behind a wedge. This model makes it possible to investigate flows with strong violations of equilibrium with respect to the translational degrees of freedom. A method of constructing the solution of this kinetically justified problem based on the solution of an analogous problem in the Navier-Stokes interpretation is proposed. It is established that for the kinetic variant of the problem considered the gas flow velocity distribution along the separating streamline in a plane orthogonal to the wedge generator coincides with the distribution obtained in solving the Navier-Stokes variant. It is found that taking into account the nonequilibrium nature of the flow with respect to the translational degrees of freedom of the gas particles has no effect on the base pressure and the wake angle.     

Simulation of proppant transport at intersection of hydraulic fracture and natural fracture of wellbores using CFD-DEM

Proppants transport is an advanced technique to improve the hydraulic fracture phenomenon, in order to promote the versatility of gas/oil reservoirs. A numerical simulation of proppants transport at both hydraulic fracture (HF) and natural fracture (NF) intersection is performed to provide a better understanding of key factors which cause, or contribute to proppants transport in HF–NF intersection. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in association with discrete element method (DEM) is used to model the complex interactions between proppant particles, host fluid medium and fractured walls. The effect of non-spherical geometry of particles is considered in this model, using the multi-sphere method. All interaction forces between fluid flow and particles are considered in the computational model. Moreover, the interactions of particle–particle and particle–wall are taken into account via Hertz–Mindlin model. The results of the CFD-DEM simulations are compared to the experimental data. It is found that the CFD-DEM simulation is capable of predicting proppant transport and deposition quality at intersections which are in agreement with experimental data. The results indicate that the HF–NF intersection type, fluid velocity and NF aperture affect the quality of blockage occurrence, presenting a new index, called the blockage coefficient which indicates the severity of the blockage.     

A new approach for computing the steady state fluid–structure interaction response of periodic problems

A special type of fluid–structure interaction (FSI) problems are problems with periodic boundary conditions like in turbomachinery. The steady state FSI response of these problems is usually calculated with similar techniques as used for transient FSI analyses. This means that, when the fluid and structure problem are not simultaneously solved with a monolithic approach, the problem is partitioned into a fluid and structural part and that each time step coupling iterations are performed to account for strong interactions between the two sub-domains. This paper shows that a time-partitioned FSI computation can be very inefficient to compute the steady state FSI response of periodic problems. A new approach is introduced in which coupling iterations are performed on periodic level instead of per time step. The convergence behaviour can be significantly improved by implementing existing partitioned solution methods as used for time step coupling (TSC) algorithms in the time periodic coupling (TPC) framework. The new algorithm has been evaluated by comparing the convergence behaviour to TSC algorithms. It is shown that the number of fluid–structure evaluations can be considerably reduced when a TPC algorithm is applied instead of a TSC. One of the most appealing advantages of the TPC approach is that the structural problem can be solved in the frequency domain resulting in a very efficient algorithm for computing steady state FSI responses.     

On a Paradox in the Motion of a Rigid Particle along a Wall in a Fluid

The results of an experimental investigation of spherical particles with different surface roughnesses rolling under their own weight down an inclined pipe wall in a Newtonian fluid at low Reynolds numbers, both with (friction should be taken into account) and without contact with the wall, are presented. It is shown that a fixed particle moves differently in different fluids with similar viscosities and densities. This fact, as well as the possibility of particle motion without contact with the wall, cannot be explained within the framework of the usual hydrodynamic theories. An example is the dependence of the particle motion on the static pressure.