Rheology of a suspension of particles in viscoelastic fluids

In this paper we study the bulk stress of a suspension of rigid particles in viscoelastic fluids. We first apply the theoretical framework provided by Batchelor [J. Fluid Mech. 41 (1970) 545] to derive an analytical expression for the bulk stress of a suspension of rigid particles in a second-order fluid under the limit of dilute and creeping flow conditions. The application of the suspension balance model using this analytical expression leads to the prediction of the migration of particles towards the centerline of the channel in pressure-driven flows. This is in agreement with experimental observations. We next examine the effects of inertia (or flow Reynolds number) on the rheology of dilute suspensions in Oldroyd-B fluids by two-dimensional direct numerical simulations. Simulation results are verified by comparing them with the analytical expression in the creeping flow limit. It is seen that the particle contribution to the first normal stress difference is positive and increases with the elasticity of the fluid and the Reynolds number. The ratio of the first normal stress coefficient of the suspension and the suspending fluid decreases as the Reynolds number is increased. The effective viscosity of the suspension shows a shear-thinning behavior (in spite of a non-shear-thinning suspending fluid) which becomes more pronounced as the fluid elasticity increases.     

An extended finite element method for the simulation of particulate viscoelastic flows

We present an extended finite element method (XFEM) for the direct numerical simulation of the flow of viscoelastic fluids with suspended particles. For moving particle problems, we devise a temporary arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) scheme which defines the mapping of field variables at previous time levels onto the computational mesh at the current time level. In this method, a regular mesh is used for the whole computational domain including both fluid and particles. A temporary ALE mesh is constructed separately and the computational mesh is kept unchanged throughout the whole computations. Particles are moving on a fixed Eulerian mesh without any need of re-meshing. For mesh refinements around the interface, we combine XFEM with the grid deformation method, in which nodal points are redistributed close to the interface while preserving the mesh topology. Our method is verified by comparing with the results of boundary fitted mesh problems combined with the conventional ALE scheme. The proposed method shows similar accuracy compared with boundary fitted mesh problems and superior accuracy compared with the fictitious domain method. If the grid deformation method is combined with XFEM, the required computational time is reduced significantly compared to uniform mesh refinements, while providing mesh convergent solutions. We apply the proposed method to the particle migration in rotating Couette flow of a Giesekus fluid. We investigate the effect of initial particle positions, the Weissenberg number, the mobility parameter of the Giesekus model and the particle size on the particle migration. We also show two-particle interactions in confined shear flow of a viscoelastic fluid. We find three different regimes of particle motions according to initial separations of particles.     

Transonic Euler computation in streamfunction co-ordinates

Numerical simulation by a finite element method is used to examine the problem of the rotating flow of a viscoelastic fluid in a cylindrical vessel agitated with a paddle impeller. The mathematical model consists of a viscoelastic constitutive equation of Oldroyd B type coupled to the hydrodynamic equations expressed in a rotating frame. This system is solved by using an unsteady approach for velocity, pressure and stress fields. For Reynolds numbers in the range 0.1–10, viscoelastic effects are taken into account up to a Deborah number De of 1.33 and viscoelasticity and inertia cross-effects are studied. Examining the velocity and stress fields as well as the power consumption, it is found that their evolutions are significantly different for low and moderate inertia. These results confirm the trends of experimental studies and show the specific contribution of elasticity without interference of the pseudoplastic character found in actual fluids.     

Unsteady-state development of plane couette flow for viscoelastic fluids

Unsteady-state development of plane Couette flow for viscoelastic fluids is analyzed using a constitutive equation that can be obtained from molecular theory, in which the molecules are regarded as finitely extensible dumbbells. Typical features of the flow situation are as follows: (i) For a fluid with moderate elasticity, not only stress overshoot but also velocity overshoot are predicted. (ii) For suitable combinations of elasticity and gap width, and for some time intervals stress propagation and reflection phenomena are predicted. (iii) After a sufficient time has elapsed, the stress state behaves similarly to that corresponding to the start-up of a steady simple shear flow.     

Stokes flow past an assemblage of axisymmetric porous spherical shell-in-cell models: effect of stress jump condition

The quasisteady axisymmetrical flow of an incompressible viscous fluid past an assemblage of porous concentric spherical shell-in-cell model is studied. Boundary conditions on the cell surface that correspond to the Happel, Kuwabara, Kvashnin and Cunningham/Mehta-Morse models are considered. At the fluid-porous interfaces, the stress jump boundary condition for the tangential stresses along with continuity of normal stress and velocity components are employed. The Brinkman’s equation in the porous region and the Stokes equation for clear fluid are used. The hydrodynamic drag force acting on the porous shell by the external fluid in each of the four boundary conditions on the cell surface is evaluated. It is found that the normalized mobility of the particles (the hydrodynamic interaction among the porous shell particles) depends not only on the permeability of the porous shells and volume fraction of the porous shell particles, but also on the stress jump coefficient. As a limiting case, the drag force or mobility for a suspension of porous spherical shells reduces to those for suspensions of impermeable solid spheres and of porous spheres with jump.     

Effect of viscoelasticity on the rotation of a sphere in shear flow

When particles are dispersed in viscoelastic rather than Newtonian media, the hydrodynamics will be changed entailing differences in suspension rheology. The disturbance velocity profiles and stress distributions around the particle will depend on the viscoelastic material functions. Even in inertialess flows, changes in particle rotation and migration will occur. The problem of the rotation of a single spherical particle in simple shear flow in viscoelastic fluids was recently studied to understand the effects of changes in the rheological properties with both numerical simulations [D’Avino et al., J. Rheol. 52 (2008) 1331–1346] and experiments [Snijkers et al., J. Rheol. 53 (2009) 459–480]. In the simulations, different constitutive models were used to demonstrate the effects of different rheological behavior. In the experiments, fluids with different constitutive properties were chosen. In both studies a slowing down of the rotation speed of the particles was found, when compared to the Newtonian case, as elasticity increases. Surprisingly, the extent of the slowing down of the rotation rate did not depend strongly on the details of the fluid rheology, but primarily on the Weissenberg number defined as the ratio between the first normal stress difference and the shear stress.In the present work, a quantitative comparison between the experimental measurements and novel simulation results is made by considering more realistic constitutive equations as compared to the model fluids used in previous numerical simulations [D’Avino et al., J. Rheol. 52 (2008) 1331–1346]. A multimode Giesekus model with Newtonian solvent as constitutive equation is fitted to the experimentally obtained linear and nonlinear fluid properties and used to simulate the rotation of a torque-free sphere in a range of Weissenberg numbers similar to those in the experiments. A good agreement between the experimental and numerical results is obtained. The local torque and pressure distributions on the particle surface calculated by simulations are shown.     

Steady mixed convection stagnation-point flow of upper convected Maxwell fluids with magnetic field

The steady MHD mixed convection flow of a viscoelastic fluid in the vicinity of two-dimensional stagnation point with magnetic field has been investigated under the assumption that the fluid obeys the upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) model. Boundary layer theory is used to simplify the equations of motion, induced magnetic field and energy which results in three coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations which are well-posed. These equations have been solved by using finite difference method. The results indicate the reduction in the surface velocity gradient, surface heat transfer and displacement thickness with the increase in the elasticity number. These trends are opposite to those reported in the literature for a second-grade fluid. The surface velocity gradient and heat transfer are enhanced by the magnetic and buoyancy parameters. The surface heat transfer increases with the Prandtl number, but the surface velocity gradient decreases.     

Flow of viscoelastic fluids through a porous channel—I

The flow of viscoelastic fluids through a porous channel with one impermeable wall is computed. The flow is characterized by a boundary value problem in which the order of the differential equation exceeds the number of boundary conditions. Three solutions are developed: (i) an exact numerical solution, (ii) a perturbation solution for small R, the cross-flow Reynold's number and (iii) an asymptotic solution for large R. The results from exact numerical integration reveal that the solutions for a non-Newtonian fluid are possible only up to a critical value of the viscoelastic fluid parameter, which decreases with an increase in R. It is further demonstrated that the perturbation solution gives acceptable results only if the viscoelastic fluid parameter is also small. Two more related problems are considered: fluid dynamics of a long porous slider, and injection of fluid through one side of a long vertical porous channel. For both the problems, exact numerical and other solutions are derived and appropriate conclusions drawn.     

Coriolis effect on thermal convective instability of viscoelastic fluids in a rotating porous cylindrical annulus

Linear stability analysis of thermal convection is studied for a viscoelastic fluid in a rotating porous cylindrical annulus. The modified Darcy–Jeffrey model with the addition of the Coriolis term in a rotating frame of reference is applied to characterize the non-Newtonian rheology in porous media. We investigate how the interaction among the Coriolis force, viscoelasticity, and bounded sidewalls affects the preferred mode at the onset of convection. The results show that for a slowly rotating case, the oscillatory mode is always preferred for any considered cylindrical radii. However, for a moderately rotating case, the oscillatory preferred mode only arises intermittently as the outer cylindrical radius gradually increases. This result is quite different from the case for viscoelastic fluids in a rotating porous layer or in a porous cylinder without rotation. Further, we discover that for a pair of given cylindrical radii when the Taylor number exceeds a critical value depending on the viscoelastic parameters, the oscillatory convection does not occur. We also examine how the variations of the Taylor number and the viscoelastic parameters affect the patterns of temperature disturbance at the onset of convection.     

Effects of shear thinning on migration of neutrally buoyant particles in pressure driven flow of Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids

The pattern of cross stream migration of neutrally buoyant particles in a pressure driven flow depends strongly on the properties of the suspending fluid. These migration effects have been studied by direct numerical simulation in planar flow. Shear thinning has a large effect when the inertia or elasticity is large, but only a small effect when they are small. At moderate Reynolds numbers, shear thinning causes particles to migrate away from the centerline, creating a particle-free zone in the core of the channel, which increases with the amount of shear thinning. In a viscoelastic fluid with shear thinning, particles migrate either toward the centerline or toward the walls, creating an annular particle-free zone at intermediate radii. The simulations also give rise to precise determination of slip velocity distributions in the various cases studied.     

Stagnation-point flow of a viscoelastic fluid towards a stretching surface

An analysis is made of the steady two-dimensional stagnation-point flow of an incompressible viscoelastic fluid over a flat deformable surface when the surface is stretched in its own plane with a velocity proportional to the distance from the stagnation-point. It is shown that for a viscoelastic fluid of short memory (obeying Walters’ B′ model), a boundary layer is formed when the stretching velocity of the surface is less than the inviscid free-stream velocity and velocity at a point increases with increase in the elasticity of the fluid. On the other hand, an inverted boundary layer is formed when the surface stretching velocity exceeds the velocity of the free stream and the velocity decreases with increase in the elasticity of the fluid. A novel result of the analysis is that the flow near the stretching surface is that corresponding to an inviscid stagnation-point flow when the surface stretching velocity is equal to the velocity of the free stream. Temperature distribution in the boundary layer is found when the surface is held at constant temperature and surface heat flux is determined. It is found that temperature at a point decreases with increase in the elasticity of the fluid.     

Fully resolved simulations of viscoelastic suspensions by an efficient immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method

An efficient immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method (IB-LBM) is proposed for fully resolved simulations of suspended solid particles in viscoelastic flows. Stress LBM based on Giesekus and Oldroyd-B constitutive equation are used to model the viscoelastic stress tensor. A boundary thickening-based direct forcing IB method is adopted to solve the particle–fluid interactions with high accuracy for non-slip boundary conditions. A universal law is proposed to determine the diffusivity constant in a viscoelastic LBM model to balance the numerical accuracy and stability over a wide range of computational parameters. An asynchronous calculation strategy is adopted to further improve the computing efficiency. The method was firstly applicated to the simulation of sedimentation of a single particle and a pair of particles after good validations in cases of the flow past a fixed cylinder and particle migration in a Couette flow against FEM and FVM methods. The determination of the asynchronous calculation strategy and the effect of viscoelastic stress distribution on the settling behaviors of one and two particles are revealed. Subsequently, 504 particles settling in a closed cavity was simulated and the phenomenon that the viscoelastic stress stabilizing the Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities was observed. At last, simulations of a dense flow involving 11001 particles, the largest number of particles to date, were performed to investigate the instability behavior induced by elastic effect under hydrodynamic interactions in a viscoelastic fluid. The elasticity-induced ordering of the particle structures and fluid bubble structures in this dense flow is revealed for the first time. These simulations demonstrate the capability and prospects of the present method for aid in understanding the complex behaviors of viscoelastic particle suspensions.     

Forward roll coating flows of viscoelastic liquids

Roll coating is distinguished by the use of one or more gaps between rotating cylinders to meter and apply a liquid layer to a substrate. Except at low speed, the two-dimensional film splitting flow that occurs in forward roll coating is unstable; a three-dimensional steady flow sets in, resulting in more or less regular stripes in the machine direction. For Newtonian liquids, the stability of the two-dimensional flow is determined by the competition of capillary and viscous forces: the onset of meniscus nonuniformity is marked by a critical value of the capillary number. Although most of the liquids coated industrially are non-Newtonian polymeric solutions and dispersions, most of the theoretical analyses of film splitting flows relied on the Newtonian model. Non-Newtonian behavior can drastically change the nature of the flow near the free surface; when minute amounts of flexible polymer are present, the onset of the three-dimensional instability occurs at much lower speeds than in the Newtonian case.Forward roll coating flow is analyzed here with two differential constitutive models, the Oldroyd-B and the FENE-P equations. The results show that the elastic stresses change the flow near the film splitting meniscus by reducing and eventually eliminating the recirculation present at low capillary number. When the recirculation disappears, the difference of the tangential and normal stresses (i.e., the hoop stress) at the free surface becomes positive and grows dramatically with fluid elasticity, which explains how viscoelasticity destabilizes the flow in terms of the analysis of Graham [M.D. Graham, Interfacial hoop stress and instability of viscoelastic free surface flows, Phys. Fluids 15 (2003) 1702–1710].     

Application of the Lattice-Boltzmann Method for Particle-laden Flows: Point-particles and Fully Resolved Particles

The Lattice-Boltzmann-Method (LBM) is a powerful and robust approach for calculating fluid flows over or through complex geometries. This method was further developed for allowing the calculation of several problems relevant to dispersed particle-laden flows. For that purpose two approaches have been developed. The first approach concerns the coupling of the LBM with a classical Lagrangian procedure where the particles are considered as point-masses and hence the particles and the flow around them are numerically not resolved. As an example of use, the flow through a single pore representing a single element of a filter medium was considered and the deposition of nano-scale particles was simulated. The temporal evolution of the deposit structures is visualised and both the filtration efficiency and the pressure drop are simulated and compared with measurements. In the second developed LBM-approach, the particles are fully resolved by the numerical grid whereby the flow around particles is also captured and it is possible to effectively calculate forces on complex particles from the bounce-back boundary condition. As a case study the flow around spherical agglomerates consisting of poly-sized spherical primary particles with sintering contact is examined. Using local grid refinement and curved wall boundary condition, accurate simulations of the drag coefficient of such complex particles were performed. Especially the effect of porosity on the drag was analysed. Moreover, the flow about very porous fractal flocks, generated by a random process, was simulated for different flock size and fractal dimension. The drag coefficients resulting from LBM simulations were compared to theoretical results for Stokes flow. Finally, scenarios with moving particles were considered. First, the sedimentation of a single particle towards a plane wall was simulated and compared with measurements for validation. Secondly, the temporal sedimentation of a cluster of 13 particles was studied. Here, the primary particles were allowed to stick together and form agglomerates. This research will be the basis for further analysing agglomerate formation in laminar and turbulent flows.     

The yield surface of viscoelastic and plastic fluids in a vane viscometer

Vane viscometers are often used to investigate the low shear rate properties of plastic fluids. The shear stress is determined by assuming that the material is held in the space between the vane blades so that it behaves like a rigid cylinder. Experimental evidence supports this assumption and the aim of the present study is to model numerically the yield process in a vane rheometer using viscoelastic and plastic fluids. The finite element method has been used to model the behavior of Herschel-Bulkley (Bingham), Casson and viscoelastic (Maxwell type) fluids. The penalty function approach for the pressure approximation and a rotating reference frame are used together with fine meshes containing more than 1300 elements. The results show that for Herschel-Bulkley (Bingham), and Casson fluids a rotating rigid cylinder of fluid is trapped inside the periphery of the vane, the shear stress is uniformly distributed over the surface of the cylinder. Finally a modified second order fluid is used to simulate the viscoelastic behaviour, anticipated to be an intermediate between the elastic deformation and the plastic flow, to provide a more realistic simulation of the yield process about a vane. In this case, contrast with the concentration of the elastic strain rate at the blade tips, a nearly uniform distribution of the plastic shear rate is still found. This implies that the plastic shear always distributes uniformly during the entire yielding process. Evidently the assumption of uniform shear on a rotating cylinder of material occluded in the blades of a vane is a valid and useful model for many types of fluid possessing a yield stress.     

A simple shear cell for the direct visualization of step-stress deformation in soft materials

We introduce a custom-built stress-controlled shear cell coupled to a confocal microscope for direct visualization of constant-stress shear deformation in soft materials. The torque generator is a cylindrical Taylor–Couette system with a Newtonian fluid between a rotating inner bob and a free-to-move outer cup. A spindle/cone assembly is coaxially coupled to the cup and transfers the torque exerted by the fluid to the sample of interest in a cone-and-plate geometry. We demonstrate the performance of our device in both steady-state and transient experiments with different viscoelastic materials. Our apparatus can conduct unidirectional constant-stress experiments as accurately as most commercial rheometers, with the capability to directly visualize the flow field using tracer particles. Further, our step-stress experiments on viscoelastic materials are devoid of creep ringing, which is an advantageous aspect of our torque generation mechanism. We believe that the device presented here could serve as a powerful and cost-effective tool to investigate the microstructural determinants of nonlinear rheology in complex fluids.     

An experimental investigation of the flow about a sphere rotating in a rivlin-ericksen fluid

Tangential and radial velocity profiles were measured for the flow about a sphere rotating slowly in a Newtonian fluid, contained in a rectangular tank. Velocities were determined from enlarged streak photographs of aluminium particles moving in a collimated “sheet” of light, at several planes through the flow field. Similar velocity profiles were measured for the flow of a 1.50% Natrosol 250 H solution about two spheres of different diameters rotating in two different sized rectangular tanks. A set of velocity distributions were also measured for a sphere rotating in a 0.9% Natrosol 250 H solution. A dye tracer study of the flow about a sphere rotating in this liquid is presented as well. Both Natrosol solutions exhibited viscoelastic behaviour. The Newtonian fluid study was carried out at a Reynolds number of 1.2 and the viscoelastic fluid studies were within the Reynolds number range of 0.05–1.24.The zero shear viscosities of the Natrosol solutions were measured using the falling-sphere method. The non-Newtonian material parameters were obtained by fitting the theoretical curves to the measured velocity data. The values of the elastic and shear thinning parameters for the two liquids obtained in the different geometrical and dynamical situations are compared.     

Pore-scale modeling of viscoelastic flow in porous media using a Bautista–Manero fluid

This article examines the extensional flow and viscosity and the converging–diverging geometry as the basis of the peculiar viscoelastic behavior in porous media. The modified Bautista–Manero model, which successfully describes elasticity, thixotropic time dependency and shear-thinning, was used for modeling the flow of viscoelastic materials which also show thixotropic attributes. An algorithm, originally proposed by Philippe Tardy, that employs this model to simulate steady-state time-dependent flow was implemented in a non-Newtonian flow simulation code using pore-scale modeling. The simulation results using two topologically-complex networks confirmed the importance of the extensional flow and converging–diverging geometry on the behavior of non-Newtonian fluids in porous media. The analysis also identified a number of correct trends (qualitative and quantitative) and revealed the effect of various fluid and flow parameters on the flow process. The impact of some numerical parameters was also assessed and verified.     

Spherical Couette flow of a viscoelastic fluid – Part III: A study of outer sphere rotation

A study is carried out for the flow of viscoelastic fluid contained between a stationary inner sphere and a rotating outer sphere. A sequence of flow transitions that is unique to viscoelastic fluids is observed in the experiments. It is found that a `traveling cell', with roll-cell-like characteristics, is generated in the polar region, and then propagates toward the equatorial region when a dimensionless parameter (a measure of strength of the elasticity against the shear viscosity) is increased. In order to investigate the structure and mechanism of the traveling cell, a numerical analysis is performed using a constitutive equation of the Giesekus model. Results of the numerical simulation revealed that the elasticity of the fluid strongly influences the flow in the polar region, where the inertia effect of the outer sphere rotation is minimal, destabilizing the flow forming a pair of weak vortices at the polar region. It was further shown that the pair travel toward the equatorial region in a different manner depending upon the speed of rotation.     

Perturbation theory for viscoelastic fluids between eccentric rotating cylinders

The circumferential and radial profiles of velocity, pressure and stress are derived for the flow of model viscoelastic liquids between two slightly eccentric cylinders with the inner one rotating. Singular perturbation methods are used to derive expansions valid for small gaps between the cylinders, but for all Deborah numbers. Results for Newtonian, second-order, Criminale-Ericksen-Filbey, upper-convected Maxwell, and White-Metzner constitutive equation separate the effects of elasticity, memory, and shear thinning on the development of the large stress gradients that hinder numerical solutions with these models in more complicated geometries. The effect of the constitutive equation on the critical Deborah number for flow separation is presented.