LAUSR

The present work deals with the numerical investigation for a chain-like formation of suspended particles of circular shape in fluid flow. An explicit volume integral approach for the calculation of hydrodynamic forces acting on the particle’s surface is used. A collision strategy proposed by Glowinski, Singh, Joseph and coauthors for the treatment of colliding or approaching particles is used. The direct simulation technique (fictitious boundary method) achieves the solution of incompressible flow along with moving rigid bodies. The Eulerian based approach which is independent of particle size, particle shape and number of particles is adopted to solve the fluid-particle phenomena in the computational domain. The fluid domain consisting of a multigrid finite element background is considered and the whole numerical process is carried out through open source code FEATFLOW. Numerical experiments for settling particles which are close together forming chain like formations are performed and analyzed. The study is carried out using different configurations of particle positions resulting in different chain patterns. Consequences of such patterns on particles’ motion and on the fluid-particle system is discussed.