DOI: 10.3303/CET2184037
Paper Received: 22 July 2020; Revised: 4 December 2020; Accepted: 9 February 2021
Please cite this article as: Brener A., Musabekova L., Dausheyeva N., 2021, On Modelling the Swarming in Dispersed Systems, Chemical
Engineering Transactions, 84, 217-222 DOI:10.3303/CET2184037
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TRANSACTIONS
VOL. 84, 2021
A publication of
The Italian Association
of Chemical Engineering
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On Modeling the Swarming in Dispersed Systems
Arnold Brener*, Leila Musabekova, Nurzhamal Dausheyeva
Auezov University of South Kazakstan, Tauke Khan, 5, Shymkent, 160012, Kazakhstan
amb_52@mail.ru
The paper is devoted to modeling the swarming of micro and nanoparticles in dispersion flows. A systematic
analysis of the swarming phenomenon is presented, and approaches to the creation of generalized swarming
models for describing the mentioned phenomena are offered for discussion. Based on the review of various
works and speculative analysis, for the first time it is proposed to distinguish three main different mechanisms
of swarm formation in dispersed mixtures. These mechanisms determine the swarming processes in wide
range of particles sizes: from nanoparticles to small dust particles. The results of computer simulation and
numerical experiments for describing swarming phenomenon proceeding by the inertial mechanism using both
the computer fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation and the stochastic lattices approach adapted especially in the
submitted work for describing swarming phenomenon have been also submitted.
1. Introduction
Since the term swarming is used in the study of various issues (Carrillo et al., 2010, Naldi et al., 2010), it is
necessary to clarify that in this work, swarming is understood as the formation of moving areas with an
increased concentration of the dispersed phase in flows (Bouffanais, 2016). This problem is clearly poorly
understood from the point of view of creating generalized models and universal approaches (Rimer & Ariel,
2017). The swarming phenomenon can occur in various processes in which the particles of the dispersed
phase are entrained by the flow of a continuous medium. Swarming is observed both in flows of microparticles
and in nano-dispersed systems (Pirani et al., 2013). Applying to nanosystems the following examples can be
noted: when modelling processes in intracellular environments (Weber et al., 2015), in biology and
biotechnology when modeling the migration and aggregation of cellular systems (Brückner et al., 2019,), under
modeling and design of mechatronic systems too (Su et al., 2018).
1.1 Speculative analysis of the phenomenon
Hypothetically, three main different mechanisms of the formation of a swarm of particles in a continuous flow
of a dispersed mixture can be proposed.
The first swarming mechanism may be due to a change in the structure of the flow of a continuous carrier
medium in the volume of the apparatus (Schmidt et al., 2006). Such a mechanism can apparently be called as
inertial swarming. The second mechanism is due to the influence of singularities or attracting (repulsive)
centers in the volume of the apparatus (Satyobroto Talukder, 2011). Such a mechanism can be called as
attractive swarming. And, finally, the third mechanism of this phenomenon is due to the presence of interaction
forces acting between the particles of the dispersed mixture in the flow of a continuous medium (Carranza &
Coates, 2000). This mechanism can be called as interacting swarming. Each of the noted mechanisms has its
own characteristic features (Bees et al., 2000).
Inertial swarming can be accompanied by separation of the dispersion flow, i.e. (id est), by creating several
swarms with different particle size and masses (orders) distribution functions. By this the initial general
distribution function transforms into several functions for different swarms (Figure 1 (A)). The inertial swarming
mechanism is used for the separation of polydisperse systems with microparticles and larger particles
(Carranza & Coanes, 2000). Attractive swarming, in turn, can proceed according to various scenarios. The
first, force scenario, is realized by the influence of the force changing particles trajectories in direction to or
from the singularity dot (Figure 1 (B)). The second scenario can be called a signal scenario. In this case, the
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