A Modified Approach to Dissipative Particle Dynamics for Simulating Magnetorheological Suspensions in Couette and Poiseuille Flows

Abstract

In this paper, an improved dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) model is proposed to simulate magnetorheological (MR) suspension by using the cubic spline function to represent the interactions between magnetic and fluid particles. The model’s accuracy has been verified and validated through carrying out a number of simulations on simple fluids and MR fluids, in which both qualitative and quantitative agreements are observed between the DPD simulation results and the experimental findings and theoretical models in the existing literature. A series of numerical experiments are then conducted on MR fluids, thereby the microstructure evolution and flow properties of MR fluids in Couette and Poiseuille flows are investigated and the effects of some critical factors are particularly explored. Simulation results reveal that the plug region size, which relates to the yield stress of MR fluids, shows an increasing trend with the increase of magnetic field strength, particle volume fraction, particle mass but a decreasing trend with the increase of Mason number and pressure gradient; however, it remains almost unchanged with varying temperature.