Potential use of Janus spheres in novel engineering applications is being explored actively in recent years. Hydrodynamics around Janus spheres is different from that around homogeneous sticky or slippery spheres. Instantaneous motion of a sphere in channel flow is governed by hydrodynamic force experienced by the sphere, which in turn depends on the particle to channel size ratio, its instantaneous position, hydrophobicity of its surface and the particle Reynolds number. We investigate numerically the drag experienced by a Janus sphere located at different off-centre positions in a square channel. Two orientations of Janus sphere consisting of a sticky and a slippery hemisphere with the boundary between them parallel to the channel mid-plane are studied: (1) slippery hemisphere facing the channel centreline and (2) sticky hemisphere facing the channel centreline. The flow field around Janus sphere is found to be steady (for Re ≤ 50 investigated in this work) and asymmetric. Based on the data obtained, a correlation for drag coefficient as a function of particle Reynolds number and dimensionless particle position is also proposed.
Flow over a sphere is a frequently occurring phenomenon in a range of industries. The sphere is confined in a channel in most of these applications. Therefore, it is important to understand the effect of confinement on the hydrodynamics of the flow around a sphere placed in a channel. These spheres can be bubbles, solid particles or droplets resulting in different boundary conditions (stick or slip) on the surface of the sphere. In recent years, Janus spheres having slip and stick boundary conditions on parts of the sphere have gained importance because of their potential applications. In this article, drag coefficient for a spherical particle fixed at the centerline of a channel of square cross-section is obtained computationally for stick, slip, and stick-slip surfaces of the sphere for a range of particle Reynolds numbers (1–80) and particle to channel size ratios (0.05–0.80). Further, the position of stick particle in the channel is varied to understand the effect of particle location on the drag coefficient. Correlations are proposed to calculate the drag coefficient for no-slip and Janus particles when the particle is at the channel center.
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