Numerical prediction of fiber motion in a branching channel flow of fiber suspensions

Fiber orientation and dispersion in the dilute fibersuspension that flows through a T-shaped branching channelare simulated numerically based on the slender-body the-ory.The simulated results are consistent qualitatively withthe experimental data available in the literature.The resultsshow that the spatial distribution of fibers is dependent on thefiber aspect ratio,but has no relation with the volume frac-tion of fiber.The content ratio of fibers near the upper wallincreases monotonically with an increasing Re number,andthe situation is reverse for the region near the bottom wall.The orientation of fibers depends on Re number,however,the function of fiber volume fraction and aspect ratio is neg-ligible.The fibers near the wall and in the central region ofthe channel align along the flow direction at all times,but thefibers in the other parts of the channel tend to align along theflow direction only in the downstream region.