Orientation and rheology of rodlike particles with weak Brownian diffusion in a second-order fluid under simple shear flow

An analysis of particle orientation in a dilute suspension of rodlike particles in a second-order fluid was performed to examine the effects of the elasticity of the fluid and of weak Brownian diffusion of the particle on its orientation. Distributions of particle orientation under a simple shear flow with rate of shearg have been obtained as a function of a single nondimensional parameter, ^* =/r _e ² (D/g), which combines the effects of the particle aspect ratior _e , the weak fluid elasticity, and the weak Brownian rotation diffusion coefficientD of the particle. In the limit of larger _e , when the fluid elasticity is strong enough to overcome the rotational diffusion effect on the particle motion, most of the particles will orient close to the vorticity axis. A new shear-thinning mechanism of the shear viscosity of such systems is predicted by the theory.