Sedimentation of particles with various shapes and orientations in a closed channel using smoothed particle hydrodynamics

Abstract

The sedimentation of particles with various shapes and orientations in a closed channel using smoothed particle hydrodynamics is investigated in this paper. The continuity and momentum equations of both fluid and solid are discretized using kernel approximation in the Lagrangian frame. The sedimentation behavior of different general shapes, including circle, pentagon, square, ellipse, rectangle, and triangle, at various initial orientations in the suspending fluid is simulated. The stable equilibrium orientation of these shapes is examined, excluding the circle which serves as a validation case. Specifically, the major axis of the ellipse and rectangle tends to align horizontally, whereas the orientations of the pentagon and square seem to be random due to the lack of a major axis and the finite channel height. The settling behavior of the three types of triangles is also discussed, and the von Mises stress of these shapes during their settling is presented. This study offers valuable insights into fluid-particle interactions, specifically regarding the stable equilibrium orientation and internal stress of settling particles with varying shapes and orientations.