Hydrodynamic Behavior of Non-spherical Particles in Confined Vertical Flows: A Resolved CFD-DEM Study
Abstract
We investigate the sedimentation and vertical hydraulic transport of irregular polymetallic nodules (PMNs) using resolved CFD-DEM with multisphere particles spanning . Shape effects induce 2.0-2.3 times drag enhancement relative to volume-equivalent spheres, arising from 50\% larger frontal areas and wake asymmetry, reducing terminal velocities by 29-33\%. Vertical transport exhibits velocity-driven transitions from intermittent settling to stable convection, as demonstrated by residence-time and drag-force statistics. While PMNs exhibit enhanced rotational-translational coupling and broader force fluctuations, the regime progression qualitatively resembles that of volume-equivalent spherical particles. Drag variance evolution reveals contrasting behavior: small particles show narrow distributions and wake suppression at higher velocities, while large particles exhibit non-monotonic variance. These findings elucidate shape-confinement interactions in vertical transport and establish bounds on the applicability of volume-equivalent spherical particles in reduced-order models.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2601.19804,
title = {Hydrodynamic Behavior of Non-spherical Particles in Confined Vertical Flows: A Resolved CFD-DEM Study},
author = {Amiya Prakash Das and Shakti Swaroop Choudhury and Sujith Reddy Jaggannagari and Amudha Krishnan and Gopkumar Kuttikrishnan and Ratna Kumar Annabattula},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.19804},
year = {2026}
}