Stability of Fiber Suspension Flow in Curved Channel

(Received 24 October 1995, revised 2 April 1996, accepted 2 July 1996)

Abstract
We consider the flow of a fiber suspension in a curved channel under a pressure gradient. The suspension may be dilute or semi concentrated, and the annulus-width is arbitrary. From a rheological point of view, the fluid behavior is governed by the Ericksen anisotropic fluid equation. At low Reynolds number, the hydrodynamic field is calculated. Then, the critical axial wave number and Reynolds number characterizing the occurrence of the Dean vortices in the medium are computed against the annulus-width, and the fiber aspect ratio in the dilute range. While in the semi concentrated case, the parameters are the annulus-width, the fiber concentration and number density.