Simulation of Particle-Wall Collisions in a Viscous Fluid Using a Resolved Discrete Particle Method

The process of particle-wall collisions is very important in understanding and determining the fluid-particle behavior, especially near walls. Detailed information on particle-wall collisions can provide insight on the formulation of appropriate boundary conditions of the particulate phases in two-fluid models. We have developed a three-dimensional Resolved Discrete Particle Method (RDPM) that is capable of meaningfully handling particle-wall collisions in a viscous fluid. This numerical method makes use of a Finite-Difference method in combination with the Immersed Boundary (IB) method for treating the particulate phase. A regular Eulerian grid is used to solve the modified momentum equations in the entire flow region. In the region that is occupied by the solid particles, a second particle-based Lagrangian grid is used, and a force density function is introduced to represent the momentum interactions between particle and fluid. We have used this numerical method to study both the central and oblique impact of a spherical particle with a wall in a viscous fluid. The particles are allowed to move in the fluid until they collide with the solid wall. The collision force on the particle is modeled by a soft-sphere collision scheme with a linear spring-dashpot system. The hydrodynamic force on the particle is solved directly from the RDPM. By following the trajectories of a particle, we investigate the effect of the collision model parameters to the dynamics of a particle close to the wall. We report in this paper the rebound velocity of the particle, the coefficient of restitution, and the particle slip velocity at the wall when a variety of different soft-sphere collision parameters are used.