Abstract
The deformation of single Newtonian drops under simple shear flow of shear-thinning fluids is examined by numerical simulations with a volume-of-fluid (VOF) method. In our study, the Carreau model is used for modeling shear-thinning fluids. From computational results, it is clearly shown that the decrease in the viscosity makes a large impact on drop deformation: the deformation behavior of a drop is constrained when shear-thinning property emerges depending on the shear-rate. Effective (representative) Reynolds and Capillary numbers and a modified viscosity ratio defined using effective shear rate and viscosity are proposed in order to organize and understand drop deformation in shear-thinning fluids. The usefulness of effective dimensionless numbers is demonstrated.
