Direct numerical simulations of the dynamics of particles with arbitrary shapes in shear flows

A fluid-structure interaction method based on the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian method and a dynamic mesh method was developed to simulate the dynamics of a rigid particle in shear flows. In the method, the governing equations for the fluid flow and particle motion were sequentially solved in a two-way coupling fashion. The mesh system was deformed or re-meshed by the dynamic mesh method. The method was employed to simulate the dynamics of a single particle suspended in a flow channel and the dynamics of the particle were studied. The simulation results show that the angular velocity is not only a function of the inclination angle, is but also influenced by the aspect ratio yielding a hysteresis, while the angular velocity obtained from the Keller-Scalak model is a function only of the inclination angle and does not show a hysteresis. The present simulations clearly demonstrate that the Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) module is very stable, accurate and robust.