A model to describe the flow curves of concentrated suspensions of spherical particles

Summary The explanation for the very common phenomenon of linearity of double logarithmic plots of stress and shear-rate for shear-thinning concentrated suspensions, proposed in earlier papers, has been much extended. A definite model is proposed which, while not claiming to describe real systems in detail, leads to the linearity of the log-log curves and probably represents fairly well the actual behaviour of such systems as thick fresh dairy creams at low temperatures.     

A new constitutive model for fibre suspensions: flow past a sphere

A new phenomenological constitutive equation for homogeneous suspensions of macrosized fibres is proposed. In the model, the local averaged orientation of the fibres is represented by a director field, which evolves in time in a manner similar to the rotation of a prolate spheroid. The stress is linear in the strain rate, but the viscosity is a fourth-order tensor that is directly related to the director field. In the limit of low-volume fractions of fibres, the model reduces properly to the leading terms of the constitutive equation for dilute suspensions of spheroids. The model has three parameters: the aspect ratio R of the fibres, the volume fraction , and A, which plays the role of the maximum-volume fraction of the fibres. Experimental shear data are used to estimate the parameter A, and the resulting model is used in a boundary-element program to study the flow past a sphere placed at the centre line of a cylinder for the whole range of volume fractions from 0.01 to near maximum volume fraction. The agreement with experimental data from Milliken et al. [1] is good.     

A model of the steady-state motion of suspensions

The authors examine the steady-state one-dimensional motions of suspensions whose particles have a density equal to that of the corresponding dispersion medium. As a whole, the mechanical behavior of such suspensions is described by equations of motion that coincide in form with the Navier-Stokes equations for a certain incompressible fluid whose viscosity is a known function of the particle concentration in the suspensions. To close these equations, the authors postulate a principle of minimum energy dissipation for steady-state motion, which plays the paxt of an equation of state for the suspension. This new equation permits the determination of the spatial distribution in the concentration of solids. Exact solutions are presented for certain variational problems associated with the Poiseuille flow of a fluid of this kind in circular tubes and Couette flows between concentric cylinders and parallel planes. It is shown that in most cases separation of the suspension takes place.     

Computation of rheological properties of suspensions of rigid rods: stress growth after inception of steady shear flow

The orientation distribution and stress growth for a suspension of rigid rods (or dumbbells) in a Newtonian solvent are calculated for inception of steady shear flow. Galerkin's method, with spherical harmonics as trial functions, is used in the spatial coordinates to obtain a system of ordinary differential equations in time which is solved by the spectral method. The method is applicable over a wide range of dimensionless shear rates (Peclet numbers) and has been coded with standard system-solvent and eigensystem packages. For sufficiently large Peclet numbers, the results give the well known rigid-dumbbell prediction of an overshoot in the shear viscosity and normal stress differences. This overshoot is then followed by an undershoot. An explicit analytical approximation for the fluid stresses is presented which is reasonably accurate for Peclet numbers less than unity.     

Pipe flow of suspensions

This study shows that fully developed pipe flow of a particulate suspension is defined by four dimensionless parameters of particle-fluid interactions in addition to the Reynolds number. Effects accounted for include the Magnus effect due to fluid shear, electrostatic repulsion due to electric charges on the particles, and Brownian or turbulent diffusion. In the case of a laminar liquid-solid suspension, electrostatic effect is negligible but shear effect is prominent. Solution of the basic equations gives the density distribution of particles with a peak at the center (Einstein, Jeffery) or at other radii between the center and the pipe wall (Segré et al) depending on the magnitudes of the various flow parameters. In the case of a turbulent gas-solid suspension, the Magnus effect is significant only within the thickness of the laminar sublayer. However, charges induced on the particles by the impact of particles at the wall produce a higher density at the wall than at the center of the pipe. The velocity distribution of particles is characterized by a slip velocity at the wall and a lag in velocity in the core from the fluid phase. These results are verified by earlier measurements.     

Pipe flow of suspensions

This study shows that fully developed pipe flow of a particulate suspension is defined by four dimensionless parameters of particle-fluid interactions in addition to the Reynolds number. Effects accounted for include the Magnus effect due to fluid shear, electrostatic repulsion due to electric charges on the particles, and Brownian or turbulent diffusion. In the case of a laminar liquid-solid suspension, electrostatic effect is negligible but shear effect is prominent. Solution of the basic equations gives the density distribution of particles with a peak at the center (Einstein, Jeffery) or at other radii between the center and the pipe wall (Segré et al) depending on the magnitudes of the various flow parameters. In the case of a turbulent gas-solid suspension, the Magnus effect is significant only within the thickness of the laminar sublayer. However, charges induced on the particles by the impact of particles at the wall produce a higher density at the wall than at the center of the pipe. The velocity distribution of particles is characterized by a slip velocity at the wall and a lag in velocity in the core from the fluid phase. These results are verified by earlier measurements.     

Free-surface flow of concentrated suspensions

Free-surface flows of concentrated suspensions exhibit many interesting phenomena such as particle segregation and surface corrugation. In this work the flow structures associated with free-surface has been studied experimentally. The free-surface velocity for neutrally buoyant suspension of uniform spheres in a gravity driven inclined channel flow was determined by particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) technique. Experiments were carried out for concentrated suspensions with particle fractions ? ranging from 0.40 to 0.50. The measured velocities show blunted profile in the channel. The blunting of the velocity profile increases with the particle concentration. The rms velocity fluctuations measured at the free-surface progressively increase with particle fraction ? and are linear in shear rate γ. The surface roughness were characterized by analyzing the power spectral density of the refracted light from the free-surface. The characteristics observed are in support of earlier findings.     

A non-local two-dimensional foundation model

Classical foundation models such as the Pasternak and the Reissner models have been recently reformulated within the framework of non-local mechanics, by using the gradient theory of elasticity. To contribute to the research effort in this field, this paper presents a two-dimensional foundation model built by using a mechanically based non-local elasticity theory, recently proposed by the authors. The foundation is thought of as an ensemble of soil column elements resting on an elastic base. It is assumed that each column element is acted upon by a local Winkler-like reaction force exerted by the elastic base, by contact shear forces and volume forces due, respectively, to adjacent and non-adjacent column elements. As in the Pasternak model, the contact shear forces involve the second-order derivative of the column element displacement. The volume forces are non-local forces assumed to depend (1) on the relative displacement between the interacting column elements through power-law distance-decaying attenuation functions and (2) on the product between the volumes of the interacting column elements. As a result, the equilibrium equations are fractional differential equations, for which a numerical solution can be readily found based on the finite difference method. Solutions are built for different foundation shapes and loading conditions.     

A structural model for the time-dependent recovery of mineral suspensions

A thixotropic recovery model has been developed that is based on consideration of the microstructural interactions that occur between particles within a suspension particle network. The model is based on Smoluchowski coagulation rate theory, utilizing second order kinetics to describe the thixotropic recovery behavior. The model is applied to Na-montmorillonite-based coal tailings suspensions and is also shown to be applicable to brown coal and bauxite residue suspensions. The model describes all the recovery data well, especially at intermediate to large recovery times. The recovery of the montmorillonite suspensions at short times was faster than predicted, indicating the existence of additional factors in early-time structure development. The discrepancy may have also been due to the highly anisotropic nature of the clay platelets. The recovery rate constant, K _r , increases with increasing solids concentration (for constant surface chemical conditions) as would be expected from the basis of the model. Received: 22 September 2000 Accepted: 16 March 2001     

Alignment dynamics of diffusive scalar gradient in a two-dimensional model flow

The Lagrangian two-dimensional approach of scalar gradient kinematics is revisited accounting for molecular diffusion. Numerical simulations are performed in an analytic, parameterized model flow, which enables considering different regimes of scalar gradient dynamics. Attention is especially focused on the influence of molecular diffusion on Lagrangian statistical orientations and on the dynamics of scalar gradient alignment.     

Mathematical model of the entry length in the flow of suspensions of solid particles in a gas

A mathematical model consisting of equations of mass and momentum and for the velocity field has been used for computing the entry length of the flow of non-Newtonian fluids in laminar, transition and turbulent regions. Experimental data measured in a vertical flow of a suspension of solid particles in air have been used for verifying the predictions. n flow index for laminar flow - Re Reynolds number defined for the flow of the carrier medium - q exponent for turbulent flow - ratio of core radius with a flat velocity profile to pipe radius - _c ratio of the axial component of local velocity in the core to mean velocity - w mean flow velocity - ratio of axial distance from the pipe entrance to the pipe radius - ratio of the entrance length to the pipe radius - relative mass fraction of particles - ratio of the distance from the pipe wall to the pipe radius - coefficient of pressure loss due to friction     

A simple semiempirical model for the effective viscosity of multicomponent suspensions

We propose a methodology to approximate the viscosity of multicomponent suspensions. The procedure consists of successive applications of expressions for the viscosity of binary mixtures, originally written as the product of monomodal stiffening functions. First, the viscosity of a binary mixture made of the two smallest components is calculated. This allows to extract a volume fraction that will be used, together with the volume fraction of the third component, to feed the next iteration of the procedure to calculate the viscosity of a trimodal mixture and so on. The application of this approach to arbitrary mixtures requires the detailed knowledge of the geometry of the system in the form of size ratios and compositions. When this information is unknown, an approximation of the model can still be used as a fitting tool. With that purpose, the final expression for the viscosity is written in terms of an effective volume fraction that is further approximated by the use of a (1,2) Padé approximant. This approximation allows to incorporate the crowding effects due to different species in a volume fraction-dependent crowding factor that can be used as a fitting parameter to match experimental or simulation data. We have applied the model to mixtures of particles with different sizes and tested its accuracy comparing with experimental results obtaining very good agreement.     

Effect of surface modifier on flow properties of epoxy suspensions containing model plate-like nanoparticles

The influence of inter-particle interaction on the rheology of an uncured epoxy containing model α-zirconium phosphate (ZrP) nanoplatelets with aspect ratio of 160 is reported. Epoxy suspensions containing nanoplatelets exfoliated with tetra-n-butyl ammonium hydroxide (TBA), a low molecular weight quaternary ammonium cation, show short-range repulsive potential with weak elastic response at low concentration. At semi-dilute concentrations, the suspensions are solid-like at intermediate frequency and transition to viscous flow for time scales longer than the rotary diffusion process. The weak elasticity at intermediate frequency is attributed to the effect of Brownian motion on the rotational motion of the isolated plates. Suspensions containing nanoplatelets exfoliated with hydrophilic polyetheramine oligomers show similar behaviour to the ZrP-TBA system, but shifted to lower concentration. The rheological behaviour is attributed to steric stabilization of the nanoplatelets by extended oligomer brushes with short-range repulsive interactions. For suspensions containing nanoplatelets exfoliated with hydrophobic polyetheramines with shorter length, there is evidence for elastic response on local length scales and the flow behaviour shows strong history and temperature dependence. Rheological signatures associated with equilibrium nanoplatelet dispersions with repulsive interactions are discussed.     

Mechanics of the squeeze flow of planar fibre suspensions

This paper discusses the axisymmetric squeeze flow of concentrated transversely isotropic fibre suspensions in a power-law matrix and relates to the processing of composite materials such as sheet moulding compounds (SMCs) and glass mat thermoplastics (GMTs). A solution to the squeeze flow problem for a transversely isotropic power-law fluid is presented first, followed by a more detailed micromechanical analysis. In the first part of the paper a variational approach is applied to the interpretation of squeeze flow behaviour. This gives a simple expression for the total pressure, which enables the contributions due to extension and shear to be separated. Applying the procedure to GMT data suggests that the dissipation is predominantly extensional, except at very low plate separations. In the second part, a non-local constitutive equation is derived based on a simple drag law for hydrodynamic interactions. This is then used to model the pressure distribution when the effective length of the fibres is comparable to or determined by the dimensions of the squeeze flow plates. The model is shown to describe the observed squeeze flow stresses in both long and short fibre systems and to relate behaviour to the underlying resin flow properties.     

Corner flow of a suspension of rigid rods

Stress singularities in the neighbourhood of sharp corners can be a source of severe problems in the numerical simulation of non-Newtonian flows leading to loss of convergence with grid refinement (G.G. Lipscombe, R. Kennings and M.M. Denn, J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech., 24 (1987) 85 [1]). For Newtonian flows the nature of this singularity is given by the analysis of Dean and Montagnon (W.R. Dean and P.E. Montagnon, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. A., 308 (1949) 199 [2]) in terms of similarity solutions. In this paper we extend this similarity analysis to a suspension of rigid rods. In the limit of nearly full extension the FENE constitutive model has the same behaviour as such a suspension. Our analysis predicts the possibility of lip vortices but their behaviour is somewhat inconsistent with those observed experimentally.     

Pipe flow of suspensions in turbulent fluid

The general case of a fully developed pipe flow of a suspension in a turbulent fluid with electrically charged particles or with significant gravity effect, or both, and for any inclination of the pipe with the direction of gravity, is formulated. Parameters defining the state of motion are: pipe flow Reynolds number, Froude number, electro diffusion number, diffusion response number, momentum transfer number and particle Knudsen number. Comparison with experimental results is made for both gas-solid and liquid-solid suspensions. It is shown that the gravity effect becomes significant in the case of large pipe diameters and large particle concentrations.     

Simulations of magnetorheological suspensions in Poiseuille flow

Particle-level simulations are conducted to study magnetorheological fluids in plane Poiseuille flow. The importance of the boundary conditions for the particles at the channel walls is examined by considering two extreme cases: no friction and infinite coefficient of friction. The inclusion of friction produces Bingham fluid behavior, as commonly observed experimentally for MR suspensions. Lamellar structures, similar to those reported for electrorheological fluids in shear flow, are observed in the post-yield region for both particle boundary conditions. The formation of these lamellae is accompanied by an increase in the bulk fluid velocity. The slip boundary condition produces higher fluid velocities and thicker lamellar structures.     

A consistent finite element model for the two-dimensional continuum

Summary The finite element approximation to the continuum problem is examined from the viewpoint of the principle of virtual work. It is shown that the usual nodal equilibrium equations for triangular elements are a consistent consequence of a piecewise constant strain field, thus guaranteeing that many results of general continuum theory can be directly applied to the finite element model, and also clarifying the relation between the two models.

---

Übersicht Das Verfahren, ein Kontinuum durch finite Elemente anzunähern wird vom Standpunkt des Prinzips der virtuellen Arbeiten untersucht. Es wird gezeigt, daß die üblichen Knotenpunktsgleichungen für dreieckförmige Elemente eine Folge des stückweise konstanten Verformungsfeldes sind. Auf diese Weise wird sichergestellt, daß viele Ergebnisse der allgemeinen Kontinuumstheorie unmittelbar auf das aus endlichen Elementen aufgebaute Modell übertragen werden können. Gleichzeitig werden die Beziehungen zwischen beiden Modellen geklärt.

---

---

Dedicated to Professor Dr. H. Ziegler on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

---

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Grant GK 10549.     

In situ flow visualization of capillary flow of concentrated alumina suspensions

A new approach was taken to understand the flow behavior of concentrated particle suspensions in pressure-driven capillary flow. The flow of concentrated alumina suspensions in a slit channel was visualized and quantitatively analyzed with modified capillary rheometer. The suspensions showed complex flow behaviors; unique solid–liquid transition and shear banding. At low flow rates, 55 vol% alumina suspension showed a unique transient flow behavior; there was no flow at first and continuous change of flow profile was observed with time. At low shear rates in particular, the suspensions exhibited shear-banded flow profile which could be divided into three regions: the region with low flow rate near the wall, the region with rapid increase of flow velocity to maximum, and the region of velocity plateau. Based on both flow visualization and measurement of shear stress, it was found that the shear-banded flow profile in pressure-driven slit channel flow was strongly correlated with shear stress. The banding in pressure-driven flow was different from that in Couette flow. The banding of concentrated alumina suspensions was unique in that sluggish velocity profile was pronounced and two inflection points in velocity profile was exhibited. In this study, shear banding of concentrated alumina suspensions in slit channel flow was visualized and quantitatively analyzed. We expect that this approach can be an effective method to understand the flow behavior of particulate suspensions in the pressure-driven flow which is typical in industrial processing.