Numerical simulation of solid particles moving in a fluid medium is a challenging problem. Two approaches are usually taken: a) create and destroy fluid nodes on the fly as the solid particle moves b) treat all the medium as fluid with solid treated as a highly viscous fluid. The challenges involved in these approaches are ensuring mass conservation and no-slip boundary condition at the solid-fluid interface, respectively. We adapt approach (b) here and investigate apparent slip at the interface using multi-scale analysis and propose improvements. Lattice Boltzmann method will be used as the numerical tool.
The work involves manipulating partial and ordinary differential equations and testing the ideas in a C++ code.
The student will get introduced to lattice Boltzmann method, a fun and versatile way to simulate fluid flows.