Aggregation in colloidal suspensions: Effect of colloidal forces and hydrodynamic interactions

Abstract

The forces acting in colloidal suspensions and affecting their stability and aggregation kinetics are considered. The approximations used for these forces in numerical simulations and the importance of the balanced account for both colloidal forces and hydrodynamic interactions are discussed. As an example the results of direct numerical simulations of kinetics of aggregation either with account for hydrodynamic interaction between particles or without it are compared by varying the parameters of the interaction potential between particles and fraction of solid. Simulations are based on the Langevin equations with pairwise interaction between particles and take into account Brownian, hydrodynamic and colloidal forces. It is confirmed that the neglecting of hydrodynamic interaction results in an accelerated growth of aggregates. The results of numerical simulations of aggregation kinetics are compared with well known analytical solutions.