Shear flow-driven droplet motion with smoothed dissipative particle dynamics

Droplet motion in shear flow is a typical phenomenon in nature that also plays an important role in the spread of COVID-19 when viruses like SARS-CoV-2 exist in exhalation droplets. In this paper, we adopted smoothed dissipative particle dynamics (SDPD) to simulate the Couette flow and Poiseuille flow. Then, the self-diffusion coefficient and the Schmidt number of the quiescent flow in SDPD are confirmed by comparison with those in DPD. In addition, the SDPD method with pacific coefficients is used to simulate the disintegration of droplets and the collisional aggregation and separation of droplets in shear flow. The applicability of the SDPD method is demonstrated through these simulations, which can be useful in the investigation of many complex fluid flows during the expansion of COVID-19.