Entropy generation analysis of particle suspension induced by Couette flow

Abstract This paper describes the behavior of nanoparticle suspension under shear with non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) approach. Couette flow with constant shear rate is applied to calculate its particle distribution and analyze its effect on velocity and viscosity. Also, analytical models are proposed to demonstrate the accuracy of the suspension viscosity evaluated by MD approach. Entropy generation plays the key role to estimate system irreversibilities due to fluid flow and heat transfer. So the entropy generation of the particle suspension is estimated in this paper. It presents that the particles tend to reside in the central part of fluid region with low shear rate, which restricts local entropy producing. And appropriate particle volume fraction and particle size may be helpful to reduce the entropy generation of the suspension. We also find that heat transfer would make much greater contribution to entropy generation when temperature gradient appears in the suspension.