Influence of hydrodynamic drag model on shear stress in the simulation of magnetorheological fluids

Simulations of magnetorheological fluids are performed with different models for the hydrodynamic drag law. The shear stress predictions from two coupled discrete element - smoothed particle hydrodynamics models with different drag laws are compared to pure discrete element simulations for a wide range of Mason numbers. The discrete element model has a higher computational efficiency but the treatment of the hydrodynamic drag force involves some rough approximations. Based on the results of this study, a criterion is proposed for the applicability of the pure discrete element model in the simulation of sheared magnetorheological suspensions. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.