Potential of Microchannel Flow for Agglomerate Breakage

Direct simulations of laminar solid liquid flow in microchannels with full resolution of the solid liquid interfaces have been performed. The solids phase consists of simple agglomerates, assembled of monosized, spherical particles. The flow of the interstitial liquid is solved with the lattice-Boltzmann method. Solids and fluid dynamics are two-way coupled. The simulations keep track of the flow-induced forces in the agglomerates. The effects of agglomerate type (doublets, triplets, and quadruplets), solids loading, and channel geometry on (the statistics of the) flow and collision-induced forces has been investigated. By comparing these forces with agglomerate strength, we would be able to assess the potential of microchannels as agglomerate breakage devices.