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Transitional and turbulent fibre suspension flows
KTH, School of Engineering Sciences (SCI), Mechanics, Fluid Physics.
2014 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

In this thesis the orientation of macro-sized fibres in turbulent flows is studied, as well as the effect of nano-sized fibrils on hydrodynamic stability. The focus lies on enabling processes for new materials where cellulose is the main constituent. When fibres (or any elongated particles) are added to a fluid, the complexity of the flow-problem increases. The fluid flow will influence the rotation of the fibres, and therefore also effect the overall fibre orientation. Exactly how the fibres rotate depends to a large extent on the mean velocity gradient in the flow.

In addition, when fibres are added to a suspending fluid, the total stress in the suspension will increase, resulting in an increased apparent viscosity. The increase in stress is related to the direction of deformation in relation to the orientation of the particle, i.e. whether the deformation happens along the long or short axis of the fibre. The increase in stress, which in most cases is not constant neither in time nor space, will in turn influence the flow.

This thesis starts off with the orientation and spatial distribution of fibres in the turbulent flow down an inclined plate. By varying fibre and flow parameters it is discovered that the main parameter controlling the orientation distribution is the aspect ratio of the fibres, with only minor influences from the other parameters. Moreover, the fibres are found to agglomerate into streamwise streaks. A new method to quantify this agglomeration is developed, taking care of the problems that arise due to the low concentration in the experiments. It is found that streakiness, i.e. the tendency to agglomerate in streaks, varies with Reynolds number.

Going from fibre orientation to flow dynamics of fibre suspensions, the influence of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) on laminar/turbulent transition is investigated in three different setups, namely plane channel flow, curved-rotating channel flow, and the flow in a flow focusing device. This last flow case is selected since it is can be used for assembly of CNF based materials. In the plane channel flow, the addition of CNF delays the transition more than predicted from measured viscosities while in the curved-rotating channel the opposite effect is discovered. This is qualitatively confirmed by linear stability analyses. Moreover, a transient growth analysis in the plane channel reveals an increase in streamwise wavenumber with increasing concentration of CNF. In the flow focusing device, i.e. at the intersection of three inlets and one outlet, the transition is found to mainly depend on the Reynolds number of the side flow. Recirculation zones forming downstream of two sharp corners are hypothesised to be the cause of the transition. With that in mind, the two corners are given a larger radius in an attempt to stabilise the flow. However, if anything, the flow seems to become unstable at a smaller Reynolds number, indicating that the separation bubble is not the sole cause of the transition. The choice of fluid in the core flow is found to have no effect on the stability, neither when using fluids with different viscosities nor when a non-Newtonian CNF dispersion was used. Thus, Newtonian model fluids can be used when studying the flow dynamics in this type of device.

As a proof of concept, a flow focusing device is used to produce a continuous film from CNF. The fibrils are believed to be aligned due to the extensional flow created in the setup, resulting in a transparent film, with an estimated thickness of 1 um.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 2014. , p. x, 56
Series
TRITA-MEK, ISSN 0348-467X ; 2014.22
Keywords [en]
Fluid mechanics, fibre suspension, turbulence, laminar-turbulent transition, image analysis, hydrodynamic stability, cellulose nanofibrils.
National Category
Applied Mechanics
Research subject
Engineering Mechanics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-153018ISBN: 978-91-7595-287-1 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-153018DiVA, id: diva2:752074
Public defence
2014-10-24, L1, Drottning Kristinas Väg 30, KTH, Stockholm, 10:15 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Funder
Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation
Note

QC 20141003

Available from: 2014-10-03 Created: 2014-10-02 Last updated: 2022-06-23Bibliographically approved
List of papers
1. Fibre orientation and fibre streaks in turbulent wall bounded flow
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Fibre orientation and fibre streaks in turbulent wall bounded flow
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(English)Manuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
National Category
Fluid Mechanics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-96616 (URN)
Note

QS 2012

Available from: 2012-06-07 Created: 2012-06-07 Last updated: 2025-02-09Bibliographically approved
2. Measurement of width and intensity of particle streaks in turbulent flows
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Measurement of width and intensity of particle streaks in turbulent flows
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2013 (English)In: Experiments in Fluids, ISSN 0723-4864, E-ISSN 1432-1114, Vol. 54, no 6, p. 1555-Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Fibre streaks are observed in experiments with fibre suspensions in a turbulent half-channel flow. The preferential concentration methods, most commonly used to quantify preferential particle concentration, are in one dimension found to be concentration dependent. Two different new streak quantification methods are evaluated, one based on Voronoi analysis and the other based on artificial particles with an assigned fixed width. The width of the particle streaks and a measure of the intensity of the streaks, i.e. streakiness, are sought. Both methods are based on the auto-correlation of a signal, generated by summing images in the direction of the streaks. Common for both methods is a severe concentration dependency, verified in experiments keeping the flow conditions constant while the (very dilute) concentration of fibres is altered. The fixed width method is shown to be the most suitable method, being more robust and less computationally expensive. By assuming the concentration dependence to be related to random noise, an expression is derived, which is shown to make the streak width and the streakiness independent of the concentration even at as low concentrations as 0.05 particles per pixel column in an image. The streakiness is obtained by applying an artificial particle width equal to 20 % of the streak width. This artificial particle width is in this study found to be large enough to smoothen the correlation without altering the streakiness nor the streak width. It is concluded that in order to make quantitative comparisons between different experiments or simulations, the evaluation has to be performed with care and be very well documented.

Keywords
Concentration dependence, Concentration-dependent, Low concentrations, Particle concentrations, Particle streak, Preferential concentration, Quantification methods, Quantitative comparison
National Category
Engineering and Technology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-125758 (URN)10.1007/s00348-013-1555-x (DOI)000321262300005 ()2-s2.0-84878704508 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Knut and Alice Wallenberg FoundationSwedish Research Council
Note

QC 20130814

Available from: 2013-08-14 Created: 2013-08-13 Last updated: 2024-03-18Bibliographically approved
3. Effect of fibrils on curvature- and rotation-induced hydrodynamic stability
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Effect of fibrils on curvature- and rotation-induced hydrodynamic stability
2013 (English)In: Acta Mechanica, ISSN 0001-5970, E-ISSN 1619-6937, Vol. 224, no 10, p. 2249-2261Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Flow of a suspension of water and nano-fibrillated cellulose (NFC) in a curved and rotating channel is studied experimentally and theoretically. The aim is to investigate how NFC affects the stability of the flow. This flow is subject to a centrifugal instability creating counter-rotating vortices in the flow direction. These rolls can be both stabilised and destabilised by system rotation, depending on direction and velocity of the rotation. Flow visualisation images with pure water and an NFC/water suspension are categorised, and stability maps are constructed. A linear stability analysis is performed, and the effect of fibrils is taken into account assuming straight fibrils and constant orientation distributions, i.e., without time-dependent flow-orientation coupling. The results show that NFC has a less stabilising effect on the primary flow instability than indicated from the increase in viscosity measured by a rotary viscometer, but more than predicted from the linear stability analysis. Several unknown parameters (the most prominent being fibril aspect ratio and the interaction parameter in the rotary diffusion) appear in the analysis.

Keywords
Fiber Suspensions, Curved Channel, Flow, Particles, Stress, Motion, Orientation, Fluid
National Category
Engineering and Technology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-132202 (URN)10.1007/s00707-013-0929-8 (DOI)000325008900003 ()2-s2.0-84885427892 (Scopus ID)
Note

QC 20131025

Available from: 2013-10-25 Created: 2013-10-24 Last updated: 2024-03-18Bibliographically approved
4. Effect of fibres on hydrodynami stability in a curved rotating channel
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Effect of fibres on hydrodynami stability in a curved rotating channel
2013 (English)In: ICMF2013, 2013, p. 674-Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
National Category
Engineering and Technology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-153220 (URN)
Conference
8th International Conference on Multiphase Flow, 2013, Jeju, Korea
Note

NQC 2014

Available from: 2014-10-02 Created: 2014-10-02 Last updated: 2024-03-18Bibliographically approved
5. Fibre suspension flow in a plane channel: transition delay by cellolose nanofibrils
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Fibre suspension flow in a plane channel: transition delay by cellolose nanofibrils
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(English)Manuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-153221 (URN)
Note

QS 2014

Available from: 2014-10-02 Created: 2014-10-02 Last updated: 2022-09-12Bibliographically approved
6. Stability of the flow in a flow-focusing device
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Stability of the flow in a flow-focusing device
(English)Manuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-153222 (URN)
Note

QS 2014

Available from: 2014-10-02 Created: 2014-10-02 Last updated: 2022-09-12Bibliographically approved
7. Producing film from cellulose nanofibrils using a flow focusing device
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Producing film from cellulose nanofibrils using a flow focusing device
(English)Manuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-153223 (URN)
Note

QS 2014

Available from: 2014-10-02 Created: 2014-10-02 Last updated: 2022-09-12Bibliographically approved

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