Multiscale modeling of magnetorheological suspensions (Q2299234)

The suspension of magnetic particles in Newtonian incompressible fluid in presence of an external magnetic field is modelled. The fluid flow is described in Stokes approximation. A special property of the model is the hypothesis about a periodic distribution of suspended particles. Depending on the aspect ratio of the unit cell this allows to model either ``homogenious'' distribution of particles or chain formation. Equations of creeping flow coupled with Maxwell equations are stated on the micro-level (that is, particle plus fluid in the unit cell), and two-scale asymptotic expansions are written for unknown functions. It allows to separate velocity and pressure in the fluid into two summands, due to external bulk flow and to magnetic field, respectively. Averaging of governing equations with respect to the unit cell makes it possible to introduce such characteristics of suspension as effective viscosity and effective magnetic coefficient. To obtain these values, the problem is rewritten in variational form and the finite element method is used to solve it. Numerical results show that in Couette and Poiseuille flows properties of suspension with chains of spherical iron particles differ significantly from the suspension where the same particles are distributed ``homogeniously''. It is also found that in magnetic fields that are strong enough the suspensions studied show a behaviour close to Bingham fluids.