A method for direct simulation of flexible fiber suspensions using lattice Boltzmann equation with external boundary force

The computational method presented here can be used to study the effect of volume fraction and particle deformation on the rheology and microstructure of deformable fibers suspended in Newtonian fluid. In this method, the flow is computed on a fixed regular ‘lattice’ using the lattice Boltzmann method, where each solid particle is mapped onto a Lagrangian frame moving continuously through the domain. Instead of the standard bounce-back method, an external boundary force is used to impose the no-slip boundary condition at the fluid–solid interface for stationary or moving boundaries. The motion and orientation of the fiber are obtained from Newtonian dynamics equations. Although the external boundary force method is general, in this application it is used in conjunction with a flexible fiber model, which calculates the flexible fiber deformation by the real material properties. The methodology is validated by comparing with experimental and theoretical results.