FIBER ORIENTATION DISTRIBUTIONS IN SLIT CHANNEL FLOWS WITH ABRUPT EXPANSION FOR FIBER SUSPENSIONS

The lattice Boltzmann method was used to investigate numerically the fiber orientation distributions in slit channel flows with abrupt expansion for fiber suspensions even in the concentrated regime. The channels have a thin slit geometry with 1:4 and 1:3 expansions. Both the interactions between fibers and that between fibers and channel walls were taken into consideration. Some of numerical results are qualitatively in agreement with the experiment data. It is found that most of fibers are aligned in the flow direction in all the suspensions in the entrance region of the expansion. Fiber orientation distributions, having different patterns in different regions of the flow, depend on the expansion ratio of the channel. The mechanical fiber–fiber interaction largely affects the fiber orientation in the downstream of the expansion and in the salient corner for the cases of concentrated suspensions. The hydrodynamic interaction plays an important role on the fiber orientation in the dilute suspension.