Simulation of non-dilute fibre suspensions using RBF-based macro–micro multiscale method

Abstract

The multiscale stochastic simulation method based on the marriage of the Brownian Configuration Field (BCF) and the Radial Basis Function mesh-free approximation for dilute fibre suspensions by our group, is further developed to simulate non-dilute fibre suspensions. For the present approach, the macro and micro processes proceeded at each time step are linked to each other by a fibre contributed stress formula associated with the used kinetic model. Due to the feature of non-dilute fibre suspensions, the interaction between fibres is introduced into the evolution equation to determine fibre configurations using the BCF method. The fibre stresses are then determined based on the fibre configuration fields using the Phan–Thien–Graham model. The efficiency of the simulation method is demonstrated by the analysis of the two challenging problems, the axisymmetric contraction and expansion flows, for a range of the fibre concentration from semi-dilute to concentrated regimes. Results evidenced by numerical experiments show that the present method would be potential in analysing and simulating various suspensions in food and medical industries.