A constitutive model for simple shear of dense frictional suspensions

Discrete particle simulations are used to study the shear rheology of dense, stabilized, frictional particulate suspensions in a viscous liquid, toward development of a constitutive model for steady shear flows at arbitrary stress. These suspensions undergo increasingly strong continuous shear thickening (CST) as solid volume fraction $phi$ increases above a critical volume fraction, and discontinuous shear thickening (DST) is observed for a range of $phi$. When studied at controlled stress, the DST behavior is associated with non-monotonic flow curves of the steady-state stress as a function of shear rate. Recent studies have related shear thickening to a transition between mostly lubricated to predominantly frictional contacts with the increase in stress. In this study, the behavior is simulated over a wide range of the dimensionless parameters $(phi,tilde{sigma}$, and $mu)$, with $tilde{sigma} = sigma/sigma_0$ the dimensionless shear stress and $mu$ the coefficient of interparticle friction: the dimensional stress is $sigma$, and $sigma_0 propto F_0/ a^2$, where $F_0$ is the magnitude of repulsive force at contact and $a$ is the particle radius. The data have been used to populate the model of the lubricated-to-frictional rheology of Wyart and Cates [Phys. Rev. Lett.{bf 112}, 098302 (2014)], which is based on the concept of two viscosity divergences or textquotedblleft jammingtextquotedblright points at volume fraction $phi_{rm J}^0 = phi_{rm rcp}$ (random close packing) for the low-stress lubricated state, and at $phi_{rm J} (mu) < phi_{rm J}^0$ for any nonzero $mu$ in the frictional state; a generalization provides the normal stress response as well as the shear stress. A flow state map of this material is developed based on the simulation results.

Yield Stress Materials in Soft Condensed Matter

We present a comprehensive review of the physical behavior of yield stress materials in soft condensed matter, which encompass a broad range of materials from colloidal assemblies and gels to emulsions and non-Brownian suspensions. All these disordered materials display a nonlinear flow behavior in response to external mechanical forces, due to the existence of a finite force threshold for flow to occur: the yield stress. We discuss both the physical origin and rheological consequences associated with this nonlinear behavior, and give an overview of experimental techniques available to measure the yield stress. We discuss recent progress concerning a microscopic theoretical description of the flow dynamics of yield stress materials, emphasizing in particular the role played by relaxation time scales, the interplay between shear flow and aging behavior, the existence of inhomogeneous shear flows and shear bands, wall slip, and non-local effects in confined geometries.