Orientation of the fiber suspending in the flow through a tube containing a sphere

Fiber suspensions flow through a tube containing a sphere in the dilute and concentrated regimes is simulated numerically with the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM). The numerical results of fiber orientation distribution based on a statistical scheme are obtained and agree qualitatively with the experimental ones for the flow through a parallel plate channel containing a cylinder. The results show that the sphere in the tube results in a change in the fiber orientation distribution downstream of the sphere along the flow and transverse directions. The influences of the sphere on the fiber orientation distribution are more significant for the concentrated suspensions than for the dilute one. The effect of the initial fiber orientations on the fiber orientation distribution is significant upstream of the sphere but small downstream of the sphere.