Numerical investigation of the dynamics of Janus magnetic particles in a rotating magnetic field

We investigated the rotational dynamics of Janus magnetic particles suspended in a viscous liquid, in the presence of an externally applied rotating magnetic field. A previously developed two-dimensional direct simulation method, based on the finite element method and a fictitious domain method, is employed to solve the magnetic particulate flow. As for the magnetic problem, the two Maxwell equations are converted to a differential equation using the magnetic potential. The magnetic forces acting on the particles are treated by a Maxwell stress tensor formulation, enabling us to consider the magnetic interactions among the particles without any approximation. The dynamics of a single particle in the rotating field is studied to elucidate the effect of the Mason number and the magnetic susceptibility on the particle motions. Then, we extended our interest to a two-particle problem, focusing on the effect of the initial configuration of the particles on the particle motions. In three-particle interaction problems, the particle dynamics and the fluid flow induced by the particle motions are significantly affected by the particle configuration and the orientation of each particle.