Lubrication approximation in completed double layer boundary element method

Abstract

This paper reports on the results of the numerical simulation of the motion of solid spherical particles in shear Stokes flows. Using the completed double layer boundary element method (CDLBEM) via distributed computing under Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM), the effective viscosity of suspension has been calculated for a finite number of spheres in a cubic array, or in a random configuration. In the simulation presented here, the short range interactions via lubrication forces are also taken into account, via the range completer in the formulation, whenever the gap between two neighbouring particles is closer than a critical gap. The results for particles in a simple cubic array agree with the results of Nunan and Keller (1984) and Stoksian Dynamics of Brady et al. (1988). To evaluate the lubrication forces between particles in a random configuration, a critical gap of 0.2 of particle's radius is suggested and the results are tested against the experimental data of Thomas (1965) and empirical equation of Krieger-Dougherty (Krieger, 1972). Finally, the quasi-steady trajectories are obtained for time-varying configuration of 125 particles.