Development and application of the particle simulation method for fiber and platelike particle dispersed systems

Abstract

A particle simulation method is proposed for computing the dynamics of fiber and platelike particle dispersed systems. In this method, a particle is modeled by using arrays of spheres. Considering the deformation of the particle, each pair of adjacent spheres is connected with three types of springs; stretch, bend, and twist. The motion of the particles in flow is followed by solving the translational and rotational equations of motion for each constituent sphere. The mobility matrix for each particle is calculated to obtain the hydrodynamic force and torque exerted on each sphere. For the hydrodynamic interaction among particles, the near-field lubrication force is considered when the separation between spheres belonging different particles is close, but the far-field part is neglected. The method was applied to predicting the rheological properties of particle dispersed systems and the motion of fillers during an injection molding process of thermoplastics.