Peristaltic particle transport using the Lattice Boltzmann method

Peristaltic transport refers to a class of internal fluid flows where the periodic deformation of flexible containing walls elicits a non-negligible fluid motion. It is a mechanism used to transport fluid and immersed solid particles in a tube or channel when it is ineffective or impossible to impose a favorable pressure gradient or desirous to avoid contact between the transported mixture and mechanical moving parts. Peristaltic transport occurs in many physiological situations and has myriad industrial applications. We focus our study on the peristaltic transport of a macroscopic particle in a two-dimensional channel using the lattice Boltzmann method. We systematically investigate the effect of variation of the relevant dimensionless parameters of the system on the particle transport. We find, among other results, a case where an increase in Reynolds number can actually lead to a slight increase in particle transport, and a case where, as the wall deformation increases, the motion of the particle becomes non-negative only. We examine the particle behavior when the system exhibits the peculiar phenomenon of fluid trapping. Under these circumstances, the particle may itself become trapped where it is subsequently transported at the wave speed, which is the maximum possible transport in the absence of a favorable pressure gradient. Finally, we analyze how the particle presence affects stress, pressure, and dissipation in the fluid in hopes of determining preferred working conditions for peristaltic transport of shear-sensitive particles. We find that the levels of shear stress are most hazardous near the throat of the channel. We advise that shear-sensitive particles should be transported under conditions where trapping occurs as the particle is typically situated in a region of innocuous shear stress levels

Pore-scale simulations of gas displacing liquid in a homogeneous pore network using the lattice Boltzmann method

A lattice Boltzmann high-density-ratio model, which uses diffuse interface theory to describe the interfacial dynamics and was proposed originally by Lee and Liu (J Comput Phys 229:8045–8063, 2010), is extended to simulate immiscible multiphase flows in porous media. A wetting boundary treatment is proposed for concave and convex corners. The capability and accuracy of this model is first validated by simulations of equilibrium contact angle, injection of a non-wetting gas into two parallel capillary tubes, and dynamic capillary intrusion. The model is then used to simulate gas displacement of liquid in a homogenous two-dimensional pore network consisting of uniformly spaced square obstructions. The influence of capillary number (Ca), viscosity ratio ( M M ), surface wettability, and Bond number (Bo) is studied systematically. In the drainage displacement, we have identified three different regimes, namely stable displacement, capillary fingering, and viscous fingering, all of which are strongly dependent upon the capillary number, viscosity ratio, and Bond number. Gas saturation generally increases with an increase in capillary number at breakthrough, whereas a slight decrease occurs when Ca is increased from 8.66×10−4 8.66 × 10 - 4 to 4.33×10−3 4.33 × 10 - 3 , which is associated with the viscous instability at high Ca. Increasing the viscosity ratio can enhance stability during displacement, leading to an increase in gas saturation. In the two-dimensional phase diagram, our results show that the viscous fingering regime occupies a zone markedly different from those obtained in previous numerical and experimental studies. When the surface wettability is taken into account, the residual liquid blob decreases in size with the affinity of the displacing gas to the solid surface. Increasing Bo can increase the gas saturation, and stable displacement is observed for Bo >1 because the applied gravity has a stabilizing influence on the drainage process