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Settling dynamics of a non-Brownian suspension of spherical and cubic particles in Stokes flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2025

Dipankar Kundu Open the ORCID record for Dipankar Kundu [Opens in a new window] ,
F. Balboa Usabiaga Open the ORCID record for F. Balboa Usabiaga [Opens in a new window]  and
M. Ellero Open the ORCID record for M. Ellero [Opens in a new window]
Dipankar Kundu
Affiliation:
BCAM - Basque Center for Applied Mathematics, Alameda de Mazarredo 14 Bilbao, E48009, Spain
F. Balboa Usabiaga*
Affiliation:
BCAM - Basque Center for Applied Mathematics, Alameda de Mazarredo 14 Bilbao, E48009, Spain
M. Ellero
Affiliation:
BCAM - Basque Center for Applied Mathematics, Alameda de Mazarredo 14 Bilbao, E48009, Spain Ikerbasque Basque Foundation for Science, Calle de Maria Diaz de Haro 3 Bilbao, E48013, Spain Complex Fluids Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea SA1 8EN, UK
*
Corresponding author: F. Balboa Usabiaga, [email protected]
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Abstract

The present study investigates the gravity-driven settling dynamics of non-Brownian suspensions consisting of spherical and cubic particles within a triply periodic domain. We numerically examine the impact of solid volume fraction on the evolving microstructure of the suspension using the rigid multiblob method under Stokes flow conditions. Our simulations match macroscopic trends observed in experiments, and align well with established semi-empirical correlations across a broad range of volume fractions. At low to moderate solid volume fractions, the settling mechanism is governed primarily by hydrodynamic interactions between the particles and the surrounding fluid. However, frequent collisions between particles in a highly packed space tend to suppress velocity fluctuations at denser regimes. For dilute suspensions, transport properties are shaped predominantly by an anisotropic microstructure, though this anisotropy diminishes as many-body interactions intensify at higher volume fractions. Notably, cubic particles exhibit lower anisotropy in velocity fluctuations compared to spherical particles, owing to more efficient momentum and energy transfer from the gravity-driven direction to transverse directions. Finally, bidisperse suspensions with mixed particle shapes show enhanced velocity fluctuations, driven by shape-induced variations in drag and increased hydrodynamic disturbances. These fluctuations in turn affect the local sedimentation velocity field, leading to the segregation of particles in the mixture.

JFM classification

Complex Fluids: Suspensions
Type
JFM Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 1010 , 10 May 2025 , A63
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Supplementary material: File

Kundu et al. supplementary material movie 1

Sedimenting cubes at volume fraction 0.5 in a domain with periodic boundary conditions. From left to right: top view, lateral view and tilted view.
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Kundu et al. supplementary material movie 2

Bidisperse suspension at volume fraction= 0.03 sedimenting in a domain with periodic boundary conditions.The colors represent the difference from the mean displacement along the vertical direction.
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Kundu et al. supplementary material movie 3

Bidisperse suspension at volume fraction= 0.23 sedimenting in a domain with periodic boundary conditions.%"The colors represent the difference from the mean displacement along the vertical direction.
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Kundu et al. supplementary material movie 4

Bidisperse suspension at volume fraction= 0.36 sedimenting in a domain with periodic boundary conditions.%"The colors represent the difference from the mean displacement along the vertical direction.
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Kundu et al. supplementary material 5

Kundu et al. supplementary material
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Kundu et al. supplementary material 6

Kundu et al. supplementary material
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