ABSTRACT
Sharp corners and edges are ubiquitous on particles that appear in natural and manufacturing processes. Because of the underlying materials chemistry, the corners and edges may be viewed as “sharp” to atomistic scales. This conference presentation work provides a framework for the theoretical investigation of the dynamics of such particles in a viscous fluid, with special emphasis on hydrodynamic interaction between sharp corners or edges and another nearby surface. In contrast, when a sharp wedge or corner approaches a smooth surface, the intervening fluid “oozes” out more readily from the gap region. In the case of the lower order, adaptive discretization has been applied in order to capture accurately the solution in the edge and corner region. Lubrication theory predicts that flat particles approaching each other or a wall will experience infinite stresses and are thus restricted from touching in finite time.
