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    Collective sedimentation of symmetric nonspherical particles in Stokes flow

    Bilal Fareed1,2,*, Muhammad Nadeem1, Atta Ullah1, John J. Molina3, Ryoichi Yamamoto3, Leonardo P. Chamorro2,4,5,6, and Adnan Hamid1,†

    • *Contact author: bilalf@illinois.edu
    • †Contact author: adnan@pieas.edu.pk

    Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 054305 – Published 19 May, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/441b-p5mv

    Abstract

    We study the collective sedimentation of cube-shaped particles in the Stokes regime using direct numerical simulations based on the smooth profile method. The particles, constructed as rigid assemblies of 3×3×3 spherical beads, settle in a Newtonian fluid at Reynolds number Re=0.1 over volume fractions 0.001≤ϕ≤0.08. Although orientation-dependent hydrodynamic forces at the single-particle level, the suspension recovers the classical Stokesian scaling laws traditionally associated with spherical particles. The radial distribution function exhibits a single dominant peak that grows monotonically with ϕ, indicating isotropic microstructural organization and progressive clustering. Orientation statistics show random alignment in dilute suspensions and a transition toward preferential alignment at 45∘ with respect to gravity as concentration increases. The mean settling velocity follows the Richardson-Zaki law with exponent n≃6, velocity fluctuations scale as ϕ1/2, and relaxation timescale as ϕ−1/2. Self-diffusion coefficients increase weakly with volume fraction and asymptotically approach the ϕ1/2 scaling characteristic of spherical suspensions. These results demonstrate that geometric symmetry, rather than sphericity alone, governs the emergence of sphere-like collective sedimentation behavior in nonspherical particle suspensions under creeping-flow conditions.

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