Integrating thermal‐concentration smoothed profile with lattice Boltzmann methods for simulating sedimentation of nonisothermal circular particles

Abstract

Summary A thermal‐concentration smoothed profile‐lattice Boltzmann method is proposed to study the effect of the concentration field on the dynamic behavior of nonisothermal cylindrical particles during the sedimentation process. The velocity, temperature, and concentration equations are solved using the lattice Boltzmann method. Moreover, the smoothed profile method is employed to enforce the nonslip boundary condition as well as constant temperature and constant concentration boundary conditions at the particles surfaces. Moreover, the Boussinesq approximation is used to couple the velocities, temperatures, and concentrations fields. The proposed combined method is validated by comparing the present numerical results with those found in the literature, showing good consistency. Then, the effect of the concentration buoyancy on the behavior of nonisothermal particles is discussed. In addition, the effect of Prandtl, Schmidt, and thermal Grashof numbers on the settling process is investigated. The results show that, by adding the effect of concentration, the maximum settling velocity of hot particles is reduced more relative to the cold ones; accordingly, the cold particles are settled faster than the hot ones. Finally, the sedimentation of two particles in a container at high thermal Grashof is investigated. It is shown that, at high thermal Grashof, there is an intense competition between the buoyancy force and gravity for the hot particles. The buoyancy flow generated leads to the reversal of the drafting‐kissing‐tumbling motion of the hot particles, making the particles move upward.