Single-Fluid Model of a Mixture for Laminar Flows of Highly Concentrated Suspensions

Abstract

A model of laminar flow of a highly concentrated suspension is proposed. The model includes the equation of motion for the mixture as a whole and the transport equation for the particle concentration, taking into account a phase slip velocity. The suspension is treated as a Newtonian fluid with an effective viscosity depending on the local particle concentration. The pressure of the solid phase induced by particle-particle interactions and the hydrodynamic drag force with account of the hindering effect are described using empirical formulas. The partial-slip boundary condition for the mixture velocity on the wall models the formation of a slip layer near the wall. The model is validated against experimental data for rotational Couette flow, a plane-channel flow with neutrally buoyant particles, and a fully developed flow with heavy particles in a horizontal pipe. Based on the comparison with the experimental data, it is shown that the model predicts well the dependence of the pressure difference on the mixture velocity and satisfactorily describes the dependence of the delivered particle concentration on the flow velocity.