Particle dispersion in sheared suspensions: Crucial role of solid-solid contacts

Particle dispersion in sheared suspensions: Crucial role of solid-solid contacts

Role of adhesion between asperities in the formation of elastic solid/solid contacts.

We investigated the formation of a contact between a smooth sphere of elastomer and a micro-patterned elastomer substrate. We focussed our attention on the transition between a contact only established at the top of the pillars, and a mixed contact with a central zone of full contact surrounded by a top contact corona, which was observed when the normal load was increased. The full contact zone...

The rheology of suspensions of solid particles

We present data for the rheology of suspensions of monodisperse particles of varying aspect ratio, from oblate to prolate, and covering particle volume fractions φ from dilute to highly concentrated. Rheology is characterized by fitting the experimental data to the model of Herschel & Bulkley (Herschel & Bulkley 1926 Kolloid Z. 39, 291–300 (doi:10.1007/BF01432034)) yielding three rheometric par...

Irreversibility and chaos: role of lubrication interactions in sheared suspensions.

We investigate non-Brownian particles suspended in a periodic shear-flow using simulations. Following Metzger and Butler [Phys. Rev. E 82, 051406 (2010)], we show that the chaotic dynamics arising from lubrication interactions are too weak to generate an observable particle dispersion. The irreversibility observed in periodic flow is dominated by contact interactions. Nonetheless, we show that ...

Self-diffusion in sheared suspensions

Self-diffusion in a suspension of spherical particles in steady linear shear flow is investigated by following the time evolution of the correlation of number density fluctuations. Expressions are presented for the evaluation of the self-diffusivity in a suspension which is either macroscopically quiescent or in linear flow at arbitrary Peclet number Pe = j a 2 / 2 D , where j i s the shear rat...