A new collision model for ellipsoidal particles in shear flow

Abstract

All natural and a growing number of manufactured solid particles are non-spherical. Interesting fluid–particle dynamics applications include the transport of granular material, piling of seeds or grains, inhalation of toxic aerosols, use of nanofluids for enhanced cooling or improved lubrication, and optimal drug-targeting of tumors. A popular approach for computer simulations of such scenarios is the multi-sphere (MS) method, where any non-spherical particle is represented by an assemblage of spheres. However, the MS approach may lead to multiple sphere-to-sphere contact points during collision, and subsequently to erroneous particle transport and deposition. In cases where non-spherical particles can be approximated as ellipsoids with arbitrary aspect ratios, a new theory for particle transport, collision and wall interaction is presented which is more accurate computationally and more efficient than the MS method. In general, with the new ellipsoidal particle interaction (EPI) model, contact points and planes of ellipsoids, rather than spheres, are obtained based on a geometric potential algorithm. Then, interaction forces and torques of the colliding particles are determined via inscribed ‘pseudo-spheres’, employing the soft-particle approach. The off-center forces and moments are then transferred to the mass center of the ellipsoids to solve the appropriate translatory and angular equations of motion. Considering ellipses to illustrate the workings and predictive power of the new collision model, turbulent fluid–particle flow with the EPI model in a 2-D channel is simulated and compared with 3-D numerical benchmark results which relied on the MS method. The 2-D concentrations of micron particles with different aspect ratios matched closely with the 3-D cases. However, interesting differences occurred when comparing the particle-velocity profiles for which the 2-D EPI model generated somewhat larger particle velocities due to out-of-plane collisions, slightly higher particle–wall interactions, and two-way coupling effects.