Numerical Simulations of the Flow of a Dense Suspension Exhibiting Yield-Stress and Shear-Thinning Effects

Meng-Ge Li, Feng Feng, Wei-Tao Wu and Mehrdad Massoudi
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Meng-Ge Li: School of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science & Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
Feng Feng: School of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science & Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
Wei-Tao Wu: School of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science & Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
Mehrdad Massoudi: U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA 15236, USA

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 24, 1-21

Abstract: Many types of dense suspensions are complex materials exhibiting both solid-like and fluid-like behavior. These suspensions are usually considered to behave as non-Newtonian fluids and the rheological characteristics such as yield stress, thixotropy and shear-thinning/thickening can have significant impact on the flow and the engineering applications of these materials. Therefore, it is important to understand the rheological features of these fluids. In this paper, we study the flow of a nonlinear fluid which exhibits yield stress and shear-thinning effects. The geometries of interests are a straight channel, a channel with a crevice and a pipe with a contraction; we assume the fluid behaves as a Herschel-Bulkley fluid. The numerical simulations indicate that for flows with low Reynolds number and high Bingham number an unyielded plug may form in the center of the channel. In the case of a channel with a crevice, the fluid in the deep portion of the crevice is at an extremely high level of viscosity, forming a plug which is hard to yield. For the pipe with a contraction, near the pipe neck the unyielded region is smaller due to the enhanced flow disturbance.

Keywords: suspension; shear-thinning fluids; dense suspension; yield stress; non-Newtonian (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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