Coupled DEM-LBM method for the free-surface simulation of heterogeneous suspensions

TL;DR

This paper introduces a coupled DEM-LBM computational framework for simulating heterogeneous suspensions with free surfaces, effectively capturing complex interactions between granular and liquid phases, validated through gravity-driven flow experiments.

Contribution

It presents an extended Lattice-Boltzmann Method integrated with Discrete Element Method for simulating suspensions with free surfaces and non-Newtonian fluids, offering a simplified yet comprehensive coupling approach.

Findings

Successful simulation of gravity-driven suspension flow

Effective modeling of particle-fluid interactions

Validation against experimental data

Abstract

The complexity of the interactions between the constituent granular and liquid phases of a suspension requires an adequate treatment of the constituents themselves. A promising way for numerical simulations of such systems is given by hybrid computational frameworks. This is naturally done, when the Lagrangian description of particle dynamics of the granular phase finds a correspondence in the fluid description. In this work we employ extensions of the Lattice-Boltzmann Method for non-Newtonian rheology, free surfaces, and moving boundaries. The models allows for a full coupling of the phases, but in a simplified way. An experimental validation is given by an example of gravity driven flow of a particle suspension.