A Cloud of Rigid Fibres Sedimenting in a Viscous Fluid

Abstract

Experiments and numerical simulations have been performed to investigate the deformation and break-up of a cloud of rigid fibres falling under gravity through a viscous fluid in the absence of inertia and interfacial tension. The cloud of fibres is observed to evolve into a torus that subsequently becomes unstable and breaks up into secondary droplets which themselves deform into tori in a repeating cascade. This behaviour is similar to that of clouds of spherical particles, though the evolution of the cloud of fibres occurs more rapidly. The simulations, which use two different levels of approximation of the far-field hydrodynamic interactions, capture the evolution of the cloud and demonstrate that the coupling between the self-motion and hydrodynamically induced fluctuations are responsible for the faster break-up time of the cloud. The dynamics of the cloud are controlled by a single parameter which is related to the self-motion of the anisotropic particles. The experiments confirm these findings.

Department(s)

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Sponsor(s)

National Science Foundation (U.S.)

Comments

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through a CAREER Award (CTS-0348205).

Keywords and Phrases

Anisotropic Particles; Break-Up; Far-Field; Hydrodynamic Interaction; Interfacial Tensions; Numerical Simulation; Secondary Droplets; Sedimenting; Self Motion; Single Parameter; Spherical Particle; Viscous Fluids; Computer Simulation; Viscous Flow; Fibers; Experimental Study; Fluid Mechanics; Hydrodynamics; Numerical Model

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0022-1120; 1469-7645

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2010 Cambridge University Press, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Apr 2010

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