Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, Vol.73, No.3, 279-288, 1997
Orientation behaviour of fibers in suspension flow through a branching channel
Fiber orientation and dispersion in the fiber suspension that flows through a T-shaped branching channel have been experimentally studied. The fiber dispersion is not uniform in a channel flow. In particular, in the suspension containing long fibers, there are no fibers near a wall at a low Reynolds number. However, the content ratio of fibers near the wall increases with an increasing Reynolds number. Fiber orientation angles of short fibers are widely distributed. Furthermore, a variance of orientation angle in the middle region of the channel has a minimum value at a Reynolds number from 10 to 20, and a size of secondary vortex in the branching corner also has a minimum value at a similar Reynolds number.