A multi-scale approach for particle-laden viscoelastic flows using a discrete particle method

Abstract

[Excerpt] Accurately resolving the coupled momentum transfer between the liquid and solid phases is a fundamental problem in multiphase transport processes involving complex fluids, such as in hydraulic fracture operations. Specifically, we need to characterize the dependence of the normalized average fluid-particle force <F> on the volume fraction 𝜙𝜙 of the dispersed solid phase and on the rheology of the complex fluid matrix, parameterized through the Weissenberg number Wi measuring the relative magnitude of elastic to viscous stresses in the fluid.