Predicting rheology of suspensions of spherical and non-spherical particles using dissipative particle dynamics (DPD): methodology and experimental validation

摘要

The rheology of non-dilute colloidal suspensions is a complex phenomenon and predictive numerical methodologies for it are still in the emerging phases. Dissipative particle dynamics (DPD), a particle-based numerical scheme for phenomena in the mesoscopic regime, has emerged as an attractive technique to tackle this problem. In this article, a practical methodology for using DPD for quantitative prediction of the rheology of non-dilute suspensions is presented and validated with focused, specific experiments. Some pertinent issues are highlighted to make DPD more amenable to being a computational tool for practical applications. The presence of solid particles of disparate sizes and non-spherical geometries poses special challenges. Methodologies to address them are presented with validations and efficient techniques are suggested to make them computationally amenable.