Three-dimensional calculations of the simple shear flow around a single particle between two moving walls

Abstract

Three-dimensional solutions have been obtained for the steady simple shear flow over a spherical particle in the intermediate Reynolds number range 0.1 [les ] Re [les ] 100. The shear flow was generated by two walls which move at the same speed but in opposite directions, and the particle was located in the middle of the gap between the walls. The particle-wall interaction is treated by introducing a fully three-dimensional Chimera or overset grid scheme. The Chimera grid scheme allows each component of a flow to be accurately and efficiently treated. For low Reynolds numbers and without any wall influence we have verified the solution of Taylor (1932) for the shear around a rigid sphere. With increasing Reynolds numbers the angular velocity for zero moment for the sphere decreases with increasing Reynolds number. The influence of the wall has been quantified with the global particle surface characteristics such as net torque and Nusselt number. A detailed analysis of the influence of the wall distance and Reynolds number on the surface distributions of pressure, shear stress and heat transfer has also been carried out.