Model development of tangential hydrodynamic force on particles with pendular liquid bridge of power-law fluid

Abstract

In this study, new models are proposed for hydrodynamic interaction forces acting on particles through a pendular liquid bridge. The liquid considered is a power-law fluid, and the tangential forces due to both translational and rotational motions of particles are independently modelled, which can be superposed as long as the Reynolds number is sufficiently small. The force models are derived by obtaining improved expressions for the pressure profile inside a liquid bridge which can be reduced to the solutions of the pressure equations based on the lubrication theory in the limiting cases. Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) is also performed to provide reference data to compare. The forces obtained from the proposed model and DNS are in reasonable agreement compared to the model in the literature where significant overestimation can be seen especially when the power-law index is small. Furthermore, the models proposed are written in a closed-form and can be easily implemented in Discrete Element Method (DEM) for wet particle simulation in the future. • New models of tangential hydrodynamic forces on particles are developed. • The models consider a pendular liquid bridge of power-law fluid between particles. • Good agreement between the model developed and DNS are observed. • The models are written in a closed-form and can be easily implemented in DEM.