Open Access

ARTICLE

Particle-Based Moving Interface Method for The Study of the Interaction Between Soft Colloid Particles and Immersed Fibrous Network

by Louis C. Foucard¹, John Pellegrino¹, Franck J. Vernerey¹

1 CU Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
2 Corresponding author: Franck J Vernerey, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, Material science and Engineering, University of Colorado, 1111 Engineering Drive, 428 UCB, ECOT 422 Boulder, CO 80309-0428 USA.

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2014, 98(1), 101-127. https://doi.org/10.3970/cmes.2014.098.101

Abstract

Many colloidal-sized particles encountered in biological and membranebased separation applications can be characterized as soft vesicles such as cells, yeast, viruses and surfactant micelles. The deformation of these vesicles is expected to critically affect permeation by accommodating pore shapes and sizes or enhancing the adhesion with a pore surface. Numerical and theoretical modelings will be critical to fully understand these processes and thus design novel filtration membranes that target, not only size, but deformability as a selection criterion. The present paper therefore introduces a multiscale strategy that enables the determination of the permeability of a fibrous network with respect to complex fluids loaded with vesicles. The contributions are two-fold. First, we introduce a particle-based moving interface method that can be used to characterized the severe deformation of vesicles interacting with an immersed fibrous network. Second, we present a homogenization strategy that permits the determination of a network permeability, based on the micromechanisms of vesicle deformation and permeation. As a proof of concept, we then investigate the role of vesicle-solvent surface tension on the permeation of both solvent and vesicle through a simple fiber network. We find that vesicles are always retarded relative to the continuum (or solvent) flow, and that the relative selectivity for the continuum versus the vesicle is inversely proportional to the capillary number.

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