Free surface flow of a suspension of rigid particles in a non-Newtonian fluid: A lattice Boltzmann approach

A numerical framework capable of predicting the free surface flow of a suspension of rigid particles in a non-Newtonian fluid is described. The framework is a combination of the lattice Boltzmann method for fluid flow, the mass tracking algorithm for free surface representation, the immersed boundary method for two-way coupled interactions between fluid and rigid particles and an algorithm for the dynamics and mutual interactions of rigid particles. The framework is able to simulate the flow of suspensions at the level of the largest suspended particles and, at the same time, the model is very efficient, allowing simulations of tens of thousands of rigid particles within a reasonable computational time. Furthermore, the framework does not require any fitting constants or parameters devoid of a clear physical meaning and it is stable, robust and can be easily generalized to a variety of problems from many fields. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.