Suspensions with fiber-like particles in the low Reynolds number regime are modeled by two different approaches that both use a Lagrangian representation of individual particles. The first method is the well-established formulation based on Stokes flow that is formulated as integral equations. It uses a slender body approximation for the fibers to represent the interaction between them directly without explicitly computing the flow field. The second is a new technique using the 3D lattice Boltzmann method on parallel supercomputers. Here the flow computation is coupled to a computational model of the dynamics of rigid bodies using fluid-structure interaction techniques. Both methods can be applied to simulate fibers in fluid flow. They are carefully validated and compared against each other, exposing systematically their strengths and weaknesses regarding their accuracy, the computational cost, and possible model extensions.

The sedimentation of a fiber suspension near a vertical wall is investigated numerically. Initially, the near-wall convection is an upward backflow, which originates from the combined effects of the steric-depleted layer and a hydrodynamically depleted region near the wall. The formation of the hydrodynamically depleted region is elucidated by a convection-diffusion investigation, in which fibers are classified according to the different directions in which they drift. For fibers with sufficiently large aspect ratio, the initial near-wall backflow keeps growing. However, the backflow reverses to downward flow at later times if the aspect ratio is small. This is due to the fiber-wall interactions which rotate fibers to such angles that make fibers drift away from the wall, inducing a dense region and a correspondingly downward flow outside the initial backflow. Moreover, the steric-depleted boundary condition is of secondary importance in the generation and evolution of the near-wall convection.

Fluid flow phenomena in the Stokesian regime abounds in nature as well as in microfluidic applications. Discretizations based on boundary integral formulations for such flow problems allow for a reduction in dimensionality but have to deal with dense matrices and the numerical evaluation of integrals with singular kernels. The focus of this paper is the discretization of wall confinements, and specifically the numerical treatment of flat solid boundaries (walls), for which a set of high-order quadrature rules that accurately integrate the singular kernel of the Stokes equations are developed. Discretizing by Nystrom's method, the accuracy of the numerical integration determines the accuracy of the solution of the boundary integral equations, and a higher order quadrature method yields a large gain in accuracy at negligible cost. The structure of the resulting submatrix associated with each wall is exploited in order to substantially reduce the memory usage. The expected convergence of the quadrature rules is validated through numerical tests, and this boundary treatment is further applied to the classical problem of a sedimenting sphere in the vicinity of solid walls.

A new model for simulating contact line dynamics is proposed. We apply the idea of driving contact-line movement by enforcing the equilibrium contact angle at the boundary, to the conservative level set method for incompressible two-phase flow [E. Olsson, G. Kreiss, A conservative level set method for two phase flow, J. Comput. Phys. 210 (2005) 225-246]. A modified reinitialization procedure provides a diffusive mechanism for contact-line movement, and results in a smooth transition of the interface near the contact line without explicit reconstruction of the interface. We are able to capture contact-line movement without loosing the conservation. Numerical simulations of capillary dominated flows in two space dimensions demonstrate that the model is able to capture contact line dynamics qualitatively correct.

Gravity induced sedimentation of slender, rigid fibers in a highly viscous fluid is investigated by large scale numerical simulations. The fiber suspension is considered on a microscopic level and the flow is described by the Stokes equations in a three dimensional periodic domain. Numerical simulations are performed to study in great detail the complex dynamics of a cluster of fibers. A repeating cycle is identified. It consists of two main phases: a densification phase, where the cluster densifies and grows, and a coarsening phase, during which the cluster becomes smaller and less dense. The dynamics of these phases and their relation to fluctuations in the sedimentation velocity are analyzed. Data from the simulations are also used to investigate how average fiber orientations and sedimentation velocities are influenced by the microstructure in the suspension. The dynamical behavior of the fiber suspension is very sensitive to small random differences in the initial configuration and a number of realizations of each numerical experiment are performed. Ensemble averages of the sedimentation velocity and fiber orientation are presented for different values of the effective concentration of fibers and the results are compared to experimental data. The numerical code is parallelized using the Message Passing Instructions (MPI) library and numerical simulations with up 800 fibers can be run for very long times which is crucial to reach steady levels of the averaged quantities. The influence of the periodic boundary conditions on the process is also carefully investigated.

In this paper, we present a numerical method designed to simulate the

challenging problem of the dynamics of slender fibers immersed in an incompressible

fluid. Specifically, we consider microscopic, rigid fibers, that

sediment due to gravity. Such fibers make up the micro-structure of many

suspensions for which the macroscopic dynamics are not well understood.

Our numerical algorithm is based on a non-local slender body approximation

that yields a system of coupled integral equations, relating the forces

exerted on the fibers to their velocities, which takes into account the hydrodynamic

interactions of the fluid and the fibers. The system is closed by

imposing the constraints of rigid body motions.

The fact that the fibers are straight have been further exploited in the

design of the numerical method, expanding the force on Legendre polynomials

to take advantage of the specific mathematical structure of a finite-part

integral operator, as well as introducing analytical quadrature in a manner

possible only for straight fibers.

We have carefully treated issues of accuracy, and present convergence

results for all numerical parameters before we finally discuss the results from

simulations including a larger number of fibers.

We present a hyperbolic-elliptic model problem related to the equations of two-phase fluid flow. The model problem is solved numerically, and properties of its solution are presented. The model equation is well-posed when linearized around a constant state, but there is a strong focusing effect, and very large solutions exist at certain times. We prove that the model problem has a smooth solution for bounded times.

In this paper, we present a numerical method designed to simulate the challenging problem of the dynamics of slender fibers immersed in an incompressible fluid. Specifically, we consider microscopic, rigid fibers, that sediment due to gravity. Such fibers make up the micro-structure of many suspensions for which the macroscopic dynamics are not well understood. Our numerical algorithm is based on a non-local slender body approximation that yields a system of coupled integral equations, relating the forces exerted on the fibers to their velocities, which takes into account the hydrodynamic interactions of the fluid and the fibers. The system is closed by imposing the constraints of rigid body motions. The fact that the fibers are straight have been further exploited in the design of the numerical method, expanding the force on Legendre polynomials to take advantage of the specific mathematical structure of a finite-part integral operator, as well as introducing analytical quadrature in a manner possible only for straight fibers. We have carefully treated issues of accuracy, and present convergence results for all numerical parameters before we finally discuss the results from simulations including a larger number of fibers.