Magneto-Permeability Effect in Ferrofluid Flow Through Porous Media Studied via Multiparticle Collision Dynamics

As more and more promising applications of magnetic nanoparticles in complicated environments are explored, their flow properties in porous media are of increasing interest. We here propose a hybrid approach based on the multiparticle collision dynamics method extended to porous media via friction forces and coupled with Brownian dynamics simulations of the rotational motion of magnetic nanoparticles’ magnetic moment. We simulate flow in planar channels homogeneously filled with a porous medium and verify our implementation by reproducing the analytical velocity profile of the Darcy–Brinkman model in the non-magnetic case. In the presence of an externally applied magnetic field, the non-equilibrium magnetization and friction forces lead to field-dependent velocity profiles that result in effective, field-dependent permeabilities. We provide a theoretical expression for this magneto-permeability effect in analogy with the magneto-viscous effect. Finally, we study the flow through planar channels, where only the walls are covered with a porous medium. We find a smooth crossover from the Poiseuille profile in the center of the channel to Brinkman–Darcy flow in the porous layers. We propose a simple estimate of the thickness of the porous layer based on the flow rate and maximum flow velocity.