Flow Analysis of Particle Suspensions in Polymeric Liquids using Mesoscopic Fluid Model

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A study on 'Flow analysis of particle suspensions in polymeric liquids' was carried out under the financial support of Research Project, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) from 2000 to 2002.In this study polymer molecules were modeled by mesoscopic molecular model, e.g., FENE (Finitely Extensible Non-linear Elastic) dumbbell, and the evolution of the configuration of the model molecules was computed using the Brownian dynamics simulation. The movement of the model molecules is determined only by flow kinematics and Brownian motion when there is no particle around them. However, particles strongly affect the evolution of the molecule configuration, and also motion of particles is influenced by molecules in a flow of particle suspension in polymeric fluid. The stress of the suspension can be calculated from the configuration of molecules and orientation of particles as well as flow kinematics, then the flow kinematics of the suspensions is predicted on the basis of the mass and momentum conservation laws. In the proposed simulation strategy the interaction between model molecules and particles is rather understandable than the continuum approach owing to the direct estimation of the motion of both the molecules and particles.In order to fully understand die complex flow of fluid with micro-structure, the continuum approach is not an appropriate tool, and it is necessary to investigate the evolution of the micro-structure of the fluid which is continuously changed. Unfortunately I could not almost obtain the results on the mechanism of interaction between molecules and suspended particles. The proposed approach here, therefore, should be improved and extended for processing of particle-reinforced materials with advanced quality. This is the case for micro composites growing recently in the research field of the composite materials.