Deformation of liquid capsules enclosed by elastic membranes in simple shear flow: large deformations and the effect of fluid viscosities

1998 ◽  
Vol 361 ◽  
pp. 117-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. RAMANUJAN ◽  
C. POZRIKIDIS

The deformation of a liquid capsule enclosed by an elastic membrane in an infinite simple shear flow is studied numerically at vanishing Reynolds numbers using a boundary-element method. The surface of the capsule is discretized into quadratic triangular elements that form an evolving unstructured grid. The elastic membrane tensions are expressed in terms of the surface deformation gradient, which is evaluated from the position of the grid points. Compared to an earlier formulation that uses global curvilinear coordinates, the triangular-element formulation suppresses numerical instabilities due to uneven discretization and thus enables the study of large deformations and the investigation of the effect of fluid viscosities. Computations are performed for capsules with spherical, spheroidal, and discoidal unstressed shapes over an extended range of the dimensionless shear rate and for a broad range of the ratio of the internal to surrounding fluid viscosities. Results for small deformations of spherical capsules are in quantitative agreement with the predictions of perturbation theories. Results for large deformations of spherical capsules and deformations of non-spherical capsules are in qualitative agreement with experimental observations of synthetic capsules and red blood cells. We find that initially spherical capsules deform into steady elongated shapes whose aspect ratios increase with the magnitude of the shear rate. A critical shear rate above which capsules exhibit continuous elongation is not observed for any value of the viscosity ratio. This behaviour contrasts with that of liquid drops with uniform surface tension and with that of axisymmetric capsules subject to a stagnation-point flow. When the shear rate is sufficiently high and the viscosity ratio is sufficiently low, liquid drops exhibit continuous elongation leading to breakup. Axisymmetric capsules deform into thinning needles at sufficiently high rates of elongation, independent of the fluid viscosities. In the case of capsules in shear flow, large elastic tensions develop at large deformations and prevent continued elongation, stressing the importance of the vorticity of the incident flow. The long-time behaviour of deformed capsules depends strongly on the unstressed shape. Oblate capsules exhibit unsteady motions including oscillation about a mean configuration at low viscosity ratios and continuous rotation accompanied by periodic deformation at high viscosity ratios. The viscosity ratio at which the transition from oscillations to tumbling occurs decreases with the sphericity of the unstressed shape. Results on the effective rheological properties of dilute suspensions confirm a non-Newtonian shear-thinning behaviour.

2009 ◽  
Vol 626 ◽  
pp. 367-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEFAN MÄHLMANN ◽  
DEMETRIOS T. PAPAGEORGIOU

The effect of an electric field on a periodic array of two-dimensional liquid drops suspended in simple shear flow is studied numerically. The shear is produced by moving the parallel walls of the channel containing the fluids at equal speeds but in opposite directions and an electric field is generated by imposing a constant voltage difference across the channel walls. The level set method is adapted to electrohydrodynamics problems that include a background flow in order to compute the effects of permittivity and conductivity differences between the two phases on the dynamics and drop configurations. The electric field introduces additional interfacial stresses at the drop interface and we perform extensive computations to assess the combined effects of electric fields, surface tension and inertia. Our computations for perfect dielectric systems indicate that the electric field increases the drop deformation to generate elongated drops at steady state, and at the same time alters the drop orientation by increasing alignment with the vertical, which is the direction of the underlying electric field. These phenomena are observed for a range of values of Reynolds and capillary numbers. Computations using the leaky dielectric model also indicate that for certain combinations of electric properties the drop can undergo enhanced alignment with the vertical or the horizontal, as compared to perfect dielectric systems. For cases of enhanced elongation and alignment with the vertical, the flow positions the droplets closer to the channel walls where they cause larger wall shear stresses. We also establish that a sufficiently strong electric field can be used to destabilize the flow in the sense that steady-state droplets that can exist in its absence for a set of physical parameters, become increasingly and indefinitely elongated until additional mechanisms can lead to rupture. It is suggested that electric fields can be used to enhance such phenomena.


Biorheology ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 113-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Murata ◽  
T.W. Secomb

2016 ◽  
Vol 791 ◽  
pp. 738-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Dupont ◽  
F. Delahaye ◽  
D. Barthès-Biesel ◽  
A.-V. Salsac

The objective of the paper is to determine the stable mechanical equilibrium states of an oblate capsule subjected to a simple shear flow, by positioning its revolution axis initially off the shear plane. We consider an oblate capsule with a strain-hardening membrane and investigate the influence of the initial orientation, capsule aspect ratio$a/b$, viscosity ratio${\it\lambda}$between the internal and external fluids and the capillary number$Ca$which compares the viscous to the elastic forces. A numerical model coupling the finite element and boundary integral methods is used to solve the three-dimensional fluid–structure interaction problem. For any initial orientation, the capsule converges towards the same mechanical equilibrium state, which is only a function of the capillary number and viscosity ratio. For$a/b=0.5$, only four regimes are stable when${\it\lambda}=1$: tumbling and swinging in the low and medium$Ca$range ($Ca\lesssim 1$), regimes for which the capsule revolution axis is contained within the shear plane; then wobbling during which the capsule experiences precession around the vorticity axis; and finally rolling along the vorticity axis at high capillary numbers. When${\it\lambda}$is increased, the tumbling-to-swinging transition occurs for higher$Ca$; the wobbling regime takes place at lower$Ca$values and within a narrower$Ca$range. For${\it\lambda}\gtrsim 3$, the swinging regime completely disappears, which indicates that the stable equilibrium states are mainly the tumbling and rolling regimes at higher viscosity ratios. We finally show that the$Ca$–${\it\lambda}$phase diagram is qualitatively similar for higher aspect ratio. Only the$Ca$-range over which wobbling is stable increases with$a/b$, restricting the stability ranges of in- and out-of-plane motions, although this phenomenon is mainly visible for viscosity ratios larger than 1.


1996 ◽  
Vol 320 (-1) ◽  
pp. 395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaofan Li ◽  
R. Charles ◽  
C. Pozrikidis

1994 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.R. Kennedy ◽  
C. Pozrikidis ◽  
R. Skalak

Author(s):  
Wei-Tao Wu ◽  
Nadine Aubry ◽  
Mehrdad Massoudi

In this paper we use a non-linear constitutive model for flowing granular materials developed by Massoudi [1] which not only considers the effect of volume fraction but also has a viscosity which is shear rate dependent. This model is a generalization of Reiner’s model [2] derived for wet sand. Specifically we study the simple shear flow of granular materials between two horizontal plates, with the lower plate fixed and the upper plate moving at a constant speed. Numerical solutions are presented for various dimensionless parameters.


1995 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kapil S. Sheth ◽  
C. Pozrikidis

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