Effect of porosity on the settling behavior of a 2D elliptic particle in a narrow vessel: A lattice-Boltzmann simulation

Dynamics of a single porous, rigid, two-dimensional (2D) elliptic particle settling in a narrow vertical channel filled with a Newtonian fluid is numerically studied using the lattice-Boltzmann method. The main objective of the work is to investigate the role played by the particle’s permeability on its trajectory, orientation, and terminal velocity when released from the rest state with prescribed initial conditions. Assuming that the flow induced in the fluid surrounding the particle is laminar, incompressible, isothermal, and two-dimensional, numerical results could be obtained over a wide range of parameter settings suggesting that permeability can strongly affect the modes of sedimentation reported in the literature for impermeable elliptic particles provided that the particle’s permeability is larger than a threshold. Above this threshold, permeability is predicted to increase the terminal velocity of the particle with its severity depending on the blockage ratio. It is also predicted that a permeable particle is less sensitive to initial orientation and position as compared with an impermeable particle.Dynamics of a single porous, rigid, two-dimensional (2D) elliptic particle settling in a narrow vertical channel filled with a Newtonian fluid is numerically studied using the lattice-Boltzmann method. The main objective of the work is to investigate the role played by the particle’s permeability on its trajectory, orientation, and terminal velocity when released from the rest state with prescribed initial conditions. Assuming that the flow induced in the fluid surrounding the particle is laminar, incompressible, isothermal, and two-dimensional, numerical results could be obtained over a wide range of parameter settings suggesting that permeability can strongly affect the modes of sedimentation reported in the literature for impermeable elliptic particles provided that the particle’s permeability is larger than a threshold. Above this threshold, permeability is predicted to increase the terminal velocity of the particle with its severity depending on the blockage ratio. It is also predicted that a permeab...