Dynamics of non-spherical particles in viscoelastic fluids flowing in a microchannel
Langella A1, Franzino G2, Maffettone P L1
1Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, dei Materiali e della Produzione Industriale, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy. gadavino@unina.it.
Abstract:
The migration and orientation dynamics of prolate spheroidal particles suspended in a viscoelastic liquid flowing in a square microchannel is experimentally investigated under inertialess flow conditions. The suspending fluid is an aqueous solution of PolyEthylene Oxyde at relatively high concentration characterized by a high level of elasticity and shear-thinning. Fluid viscoelasticity drives the spheroids towards the channel central region at relatively low flow rates when the particles explore the constant viscosity region of the fluid, without showing a preferential orientation. As the flow rate increases and the fluid enters in the shear-thinning region, a smaller fraction of particles migrates at the central channel region, reducing the focusing efficiency. The focused spheroids rotate sufficiently fast to attain a stable orientation with major axis aligned along the flow direction.
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