Mesoscale modeling of colloidal suspensions with adsorbing solutes

Abstract

We construct a mesoscale model of colloidal suspensions that contain solutes reversibly adsorbing onto the colloidal particle surfaces. The present model describes the coupled dynamics of the colloidal particles, the host fluid, and the solutes through the Newton-Euler equations of motion, the hydrodynamic equations, and the advection-diffusion equation, respectively. The solute adsorption is modeled through a square-well potential, which represents a short-range attractive interaction between a particle and a solute molecule. The present model is formulated to be solved through direct numerical simulations. Some numerical results are presented to validate the simulations. The present model enables investigations of solute adsorption effects in the presence of a fluid flow and an inhomogeneous solute concentration distribution.