Tuckers Flow Classification for Fiber Suspension in Thin Cavities

7 Tucker s Flow Classification for Fiber Suspension in Thin Cavities 

Lipscomb et al. (1988) have shown that the flow kinematics in complex flows can be strongly affected due to fibers. However, in the injection molding simulation for flows in narrow channels, the effects can be neglected, and an orientation-flow decoupled simulation approach is used. To understand in which situations the decoupled simulation is allowed, we need to classify the flow regimes. Tucker (1991) has identified four regimes of suspension flows. His classification was based on two dimensionless numbers. The first is the particle number defined by 

The second is a small parameter describing the order of magnitude of out-of-plane orientation given by 

5 Flow-Induced Alignment in Short-Fiber Reinforced Polymers 

The key dimensionless group to classify the flow regime is NpS. The four regimes defined by Tucker (1991) are  

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