Publications

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Bulk migration of particles towards regions of lower shear occurs in suspensions of neutrally buoyant spheres in Newtonian fluids undergoing creeping flow in the annular region between two rotating, coaxial cylinders (a wide-gap Couette). For a monomodal suspension of spheres in a viscous fluid, dimensional analysis indicates that the rate of migration at a given concentration should scale with the square of the sphere radius. However, a previous experimental study showed that the rate of migration of spherical particles at 50% volume concentration actually scaled with the sphere radius to approximately the 2.9 power.

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The couple on a ball rotating relative to an otherwise quiescent suspension of comparably-sized, neutrally buoyant spheres is studied both experimentally and numerically. Apparent 'slip' relative to the analytical solution for a sphere spinning in a Newtonian fluid (based upon the viscosity of the suspension) is determined in suspensions with volume fractions c ranging from 0.03 to 0.50. This apparent slip results in a decrease of the measured torque on the spinning ball when the radius of the ball becomes comparable with that of the suspended spheres. Over the range of our data, the slip becomes more pronounced as the concentration c increases. At c = 0.25, three-dimensional boundary-element simulations agree well with the experimental data. Moreover, at c = 0.03, good agreement exists between such calculations and theoretical predictions of rotary slip in dilute suspensions.

The spinning ball rheometer has been proposed as a method to measure rheological properties of concentrated suspensions. Recent experiments have shown that the measured extra torque on the spinning ball decreases as the radius of the spinning ball becomes comparable to the size of the suspended particle. We have performed a series of three dimensional boundary element calculations of the rheometer geometry to probe the microstructure effects that contribute to the apparent 'slip.' We will present a series of snap-shot results as well as several transient calculations which are compared to the available experimental data. The computational limitations of these large-scale simulations shall also be discussed.

Abstract not provided.

Bulk migration of particles towards regions of lower shear occurs in suspensions of neutrally buoyant spheres in Newtonian fluids undergoing creeping flow in the annular region between two rotating, coaxial cylinders (a wide-gap Couette). For a monomodal suspension of spheres in a viscous fluid, dimensional analysis indicates that the rate of migration at a given concentration should scale with the square of the sphere radius. However, a previous experimental study showed that the rate of migration of spherical particles at 50% volume concentration actually scaled with the sphere radius to approximately the 2.9 power.

A novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique which resolves the separate components of the evolving vertical concentration profiles of 3-component non-colloidal suspensions is described. This method exploits the sensitivity of MRI to chemical differences between the three phases to directly image the fluid phase and one of the solid phases, with the third phase obtained by subtraction. 19F spin-echo imaging of a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) oil was interlaced with 1H SPRITE imaging of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) particles. The third phase was comprised of borosilicate glass spheres, which were not visible while imaging the PTFE or LDPE phases. The method is demonstrated by performing measurements on 2-phase materials containing only the floating (LDPE) particles, with the results contrasted to the experimental behaviour of the individual phases in the full 3-phase system. All experiments were performed using nearly monodisperse particles, with initial suspension volume fractions, φi, of 0.1. © 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

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Shear-induced migration of particles is studied during the slow flow of suspensions of neutrally buoyant spheres, at 50% particle volume fraction, in an inelastic but shear-thinning, suspending fluid. The suspension is flowing in between a rotating inner cylinder and a stationary outer cylinder. The conditions are such that nonhydrodynamic effects are negligible. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging demonstrates that the movement of particles away from the high shear rate region is more pronounced than for a Newtonian suspending liquid. We test a continuum constitutive model for the evolution of particle concentration in a flowing suspension proposed by Phillips et al., but extended to shear-thinning, suspending fluids. The fluid constitutive equation is Carreau-like in its shear-thinning behavior but also varies with the local particle concentration. The model captures many of the trends found in the experimental data, but does not yet agree quantitatively. In fact, quantitative agreement with a diffusive flux constitutive equation would be impossible without the addition of another fitting parameter that may depend on the shear-thinning nature of the suspending fluid. Because of this, we feel that the Phillips model may be fundamentally inadequate for simulating flows of particles in non-Newtonian suspending fluids without the introduction of a normal stress correction or other augmenting terms.

Encapsulation is a common process used in manufacturing most non-nuclear components including: firing sets, neutron generators, trajectory sensing signal generators (TSSGs), arming, fusing and firing devices (AF and Fs), radars, programmers, connectors, and batteries. Encapsulation is used to contain high voltage, to mitigate stress and vibration and to protect against moisture. The purpose of the ASCI Encapsulation project is to develop a simulation capability that will allow us to aid in the encapsulation design process, especially for neutron generators. The introduction of an encapsulant poses many problems because of the need to balance ease of processing and properties necessary to achieve the design benefits such as tailored encapsulant properties, optimized cure schedule and reduced failure rates. Encapsulants can fail through fracture or delamination as a result of cure shrinkage, thermally induced residual stresses, voids or incomplete component embedding and particle gradients. Manufacturing design requirements include (1) maintaining uniform composition of particles in order to maintain the desired thermal coefficient of expansion (CTE) and density, (2) mitigating void formation during mold fill, (3) mitigating cure and thermally induced stresses during cure and cool down, and (4) eliminating delamination and fracture due to cure shrinkage/thermal strains. The first two require modeling of the fluid phase, and it is proposed to use the finite element code GOMA to accomplish this. The latter two require modeling of the solid state; however, ideally the effects of particle distribution would be included in the calculations, and thus initial conditions would be set from GOMA predictions. These models, once they are verified and validated, will be transitioned into the SIERRA framework and the ARIA code. This will facilitate exchange of data with the solid mechanics calculations in SIERRA/ADAGIO.

The analysis of many complex multiphase fluid flow systems is based on a scale decoupling procedure. At the macroscale continuum models are used to perform large-scale simulations. At the mesoscale statistical homogenization theory is used to derive continuum models based on representative volume elements (RVEs). At the microscale small-scale features, such as interfacial properties, are analyzed to be incorporated into mesoscale simulations. In this research mesoscopic simulations of hard particles suspended in a Newtonian fluid undergoing nonlinear shear flow are performed using a boundary element method. To obtain an RVE at higher concentrations, several hundred particles are included in the simulations, putting considerable demands on the computational resources both in terms of CPU and memory. Parallel computing provides a viable platform to study these large multiphase systems. The implementation of a portable, parallel computer code based on the boundary element method using a block-block data distribution is discussed in this paper. The code employs updated direct-solver technologies that make use of dual-processor compute nodes.

This paper reviews several coupled theoretical and experimental investigations of the effect of microstructure on momentum transport in concentrated suspensions. An expression to predict the apparent suspension viscosity of mixtures of rods and spheres is developed and verified with falling-ball viscometry experiments. The effects of suspension-scale slip (relative to the bulk continuum) are studied with a sensitive spinning-ball rheometer, and the results are explained with a novel theoretical method. The first noninvasive, nuclear magnetic resonance imaging measurements of the evolution of velocity and concentration profiles in pressure-driven entrance flows of initially well mixed suspensions in a circular conduit are described, as well as more complex two-dimensional flows with recirculation, e.g. flow in a journal bearing. These data in nonhomogeneous flows and complementary three-dimensional video imaging of individual tracer particles in homogeneous flows are providing much needed information on the effects of flow on particle interactions and effective theological properties at the macroscale.

The relative viscosity of concentrated suspensions of mixtures of rodlike and spherical particles are measured by falling-ball rheometry. The suspensions are well mixed and homogeneous in the sense that the particles are well dispersed and the rods are randomly oriented. For a constant total volume fraction of solids, the addition of spheres to suspensions of rods results in large decrease in the relative viscosity of the suspension. In these experiments the length of the suspended rods is approximately 10 times the diameter of the suspended spheres. Due to this difference in the characteristic sizes of the two types of particles, the spheres may be considered as part of the suspending homogeneous continuum. A simple model based on this physical picture, after Farris [1968], is very successful in predicting the relative viscosity of the mixed suspensions.

We report on experimental measurements and numerical predictions of shear-induced migration of particles in concentrated suspensions subjected to flow in the wide gap between a rotating inner cylinder placed eccentrically within a fixed outer cylinder (a cylindrical bearing). The suspensions consists of large, noncolloidal spherical particles suspended in a viscous Newtonian liquid. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging is used to measure the time evolution of concentration and velocity profiles as the flow induced particle migration from the initial, well-mixed state. A model originally proposed by Phillips et al. (1992) is generalized to two dimensions. The coupled equations of motion and particle migration are solved numerically using an explicit pseudo-transient finite volume formulation. While not all of the qualitative features observed in the experiments are reproduced by this general numerical implementation, the velocity predictions show moderately good agreement with the experimental data.

In this paper, a massively parallel implementation of the boundary element method to study particle transport in Stokes flow is discussed. The numerical algorithm couples the quasistatic Stokes equations for the fluid with kinematic and equilibrium equations for the particles. The formation and assembly of the discretized boundary element equations is based on the torus-wrap mapping as opposed to the more traditional row- or column-wrap mappings. The equation set is solved using a block Jacobi iteration method. Results are shown for an example application problem, which requires solving a dense system of 6240 equations more than 1200 times.

An overview is presented of research that focuses on slow flows of suspensions in which colloidal and inertial effects are negligibly small (Macrostatistical Hydrodynamics). First, we describe nuclear magnetic resonance imaging experiments to quantitatively measure particle migration occurring in concentrated suspensions undergoing a flow with a nonuniform shear rate. These experiments address the issue of how the flow field affects the microstructure of suspensions. In order to understand the local viscosity in a suspension with such a flow-induced, spatially varying concentration, one must know how the viscosity of a homogeneous suspension depends on such variables as solids concentration and particle orientation. We suggest the technique of falling ball viscometry, using small balls, as a method to determine the effective viscosity of a suspension without affecting the original microstructure significantly. We also describe data from experiments in which the detailed fluctuations of a falling ball`s velocity indicate the noncontinuum nature of the suspension and may lead to more insights into the effects of suspension microstructure on macroscopic properties. Finally, we briefly describe other experiments that can be performed in quiescent suspensions (in contrast to the use of conventional shear rotational viscometers) in order to learn more about the microstructure and boundary effects in concentrated suspensions.

Studies of falling-ball rheometry in concentrated suspensions, embodying a combination of analysis experiment, and numerical simulation, are discussed. Experiments involve tracking small balls falling slowly through otherwise quiescent suspensions of neutrally buoyant particles. A theory has been developed relating the average ball velocity to the macroscopic suspension viscosity, and, for dilute suspensions, agreement is obtained with Einstein's sheared suspension viscosity. Detailed trajectories of the balls, obtained either with new experimental techniques or by numerical simulation, are statistically interpreted in terms of the mean settling velocity and the dispersion about that mean. We show that falling-ball rheometry, using small balls relative to the suspended particles, can be a means of measuring the macroscopic zero-shear viscosity without disturbing the original microstructure significantly; therefore, falling-ball rheometry can be a powerful tool to study the effects of microstructure on the macroscopic properties of suspensions. 25 refs.