Direct numerical simulation of viscous incompressible flow with spherical particles in the flat channel

Abstract

The paper deals with numerical simulation of 3D fluid flow with relatively large spherical particles in the flat channel. The simulation is performed using the previously developed SIMPLE based immersed boundary method. The collision model, describing particle-particle and particle-wall collisions, complements the numerical method. This model prevents particle overlapping and takes into account the complicated fluid flow in the space between the particles. The computed flow rates decrease significantly with increasing the particle concentration. It is shown that the value of the particle diameter has a small influence on the flow rate. The flow rate can be approximated using the value of effective viscosity computed by Maron – Peirce formula with the use of extremely high packing concentration. Particles are moving faster than the mixture, and the difference increases with increasing concentration.