Modelling the effect of particle inertia on the orientation kinematics of fibres and spheroids immersed in a simple shear flow

Abstract

Simulations of flows containing non-spherical particles (fibres or ellipsoids) rely on the knowledge of the equation governing the particle motion in the flow. Most models used nowadays are based on the pioneering work of Jeffery (1922), who obtained an equation for the motion of an ellipsoidal particle immersed in a Newtonian fluid, despite the fact that this model relies on strong assumptions: negligible inertia, unconfined flow, dilute regime, flow unperturbed by the presence of the suspended particle, etc. In this work, we propose a dumbbell-based model aimed to describe the motion of an inertial fibre or ellipsoid suspended in a Newtonian fluid. We then use this model to study the orientation kinematics of such particle in a linear shear flow and compare it to the inertialess case. In the case of fibres, we observe the appearance of periodic orbits (whereas inertialess fibres just align in the flow field). For spheroids, our model predicts an orbit drift towards the flow-gradient plane, either gradually (slight inertia) or by first rotating around a moving oblique axis (heavy particles). Multi-Particle Collision Dynamics (MPCD) simulations were carried out to assess the model predictions in the case of inertial fibres and revealed similar behaviours.