Numerical Simulations of Fiber Sedimentation in Navier-Stokes Flows

Abstract

We perform numerical simulations of the sedimentation of rigid fibers suspended in a viscous incompressible fluid at nonzero Reynolds numbers. The fiber sedimentation system is modeled as a two-dimensional immersed boundary problem, which naturally accommodates the fluid-particle interactions and which allows the simulation of a large number of suspending fibers. We study the dynamics of sedimenting fibers under a variety of conditions, including differing fiber densities, Reynolds numbers, domain boundary conditions, etc. Simulation results are compared to experimental measurements and numerical results obtained in previous studies.