Vorticity alignment of rigid fibers in an oscillatory shear flow: Role of confinement

Braden Snook (1) , Elisabeth Guazzelli (2) , Jason E. Butler (1)

1 UF - University of Florida [Gainesville]
2 IUSTI - Institut universitaire des systèmes thermiques industriels

Rigid fibers suspended in a viscous, Newtonian fluid at high concentrations can be aligned in the direction perpendicular to the flow-gradient plane (vorticity direction) by applying an oscillatory shear flow. A simple model, which considers only excluded volume and self-mobilities, can accurately predict the orientation distributions measured in experiments by Franceschini et al. [“Transverse alignment of fibers in a periodically sheared suspension: An absorbing phase transition with a slowly varying control parameter,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 250603 (2011)]. Furthermore, simulations reveal that the alignment of the fibers in the vorticity direction depends strongly on the presence of the bounding walls.

Domaines: Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]

Braden Snook, Elisabeth Guazzelli, Jason E. Butler. Vorticity alignment of rigid fibers in an oscillatory shear flow: Role of confinement. Physics of Fluids, 2012, 24 (12), pp.121702 - 26604. ⟨10.1063/1.4770141⟩. ⟨hal-01432377⟩