A fully explicit three‐step SPH algorithm for simulation of non‐Newtonian fluid flow

Purpose – This paper sets out to present a fully explicit smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method to solve non‐Newtonian fluid flow problems.Design/methodology/approach – The governing equations are momentum equations along with the continuity equation which are described in a Lagrangian framework. A new treatment similar to that used in Eulerian formulations is applied to viscous terms, which facilitates the implementation of various inelastic non‐Newtonian models. This approach utilizes the exact forms of the shear strain rate tensor and its second principal invariant to calculate the shear stress tensor. Three constitutive laws including power‐law, Bingham‐plastic and Herschel‐Bulkley models are studied in this work. The imposition of the incompressibility is fulfilled using a penalty‐like formulation which creates a trade‐off between the pressure and density variations. Solid walls are simulated by the boundary particles whose positions are fixed but contribute to the field variables in the same ...