Exploring the Role of Filaments in Channel Flow Modification Using the Immersed Boundary Lattice Boltzmann Method

Abstract

Manipulating flow at the miniature is a challenging task. This study explores the potential application of elastic filaments to manipulate the flow field in a channel using the immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann (IB-LBM) method. The channel width and the initial elastic filament length were 4 cm and 1.3 cm, respectively. The presence of the filaments on the channel's center and walls is investigated separately. For the case with two inclined elastic filaments in the middle of the channel, the results showed that the elastic filament deviates from its original state under the influence of the fluid momentum and tends to move in the direction of the flow. The filaments stretch and reach their final position, then start to oscillate under the influence of elasticity and vortexes formed behind them. For the case with 10 filaments distributed over the top and bottom walls with a constant distance between them, the results show that initially the filaments near the entrance cause a disturbance in the flow and induce large vortexes at the end of the channel. However, over time, as the flow reaches a steady state, small vortexes form behind the filaments and, the filaments start to oscillate and the main flow inside the channel remains pretty uniform without obvious vortexes.