Microstructural rearrangements and their rheological implications in a model Thixotropic Elasto-Visco-Plastic (TEVP) fluid

TL;DR

This study uses Dissipative Particle Dynamics to link microstructural changes in an attractive particulate gel to its macroscopic rheological behavior, revealing how local rearrangements influence flow phenomena like shear banding.

Contribution

It provides a detailed microstructural analysis of a thixotropic elasto-visco-plastic fluid under shear, connecting particle-level dynamics to macroscopic rheology with new insights.

Findings

Coordination number correlates with shear stress-shear rate curve.

Non-isotropic rearrangements cause stress overshoots and strain-hardening.

Microstructural localization phenomena such as shear banding are observed.

Abstract

We identify the sequence of microstructural changes that characterize the evolution of an attractive particulate gel under flow and discuss their implications on macroscopic rheology. Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) is used to monitor shear-driven evolution of a fabric tensor constructed from the ensemble spatial configuration of individual attractive constituents within the gel. By decomposing this tensor into isotropic and non-isotropic components we show that the average coordination number correlates directly with the flow curve of the shear stress vs. shear rate, consistent with theoretical predictions for attractive systems. We show that the evolution in non-isotropic local particle rearrangements are primarily responsible for stress overshoots (strain-hardening) at the inception of steady shear flow and also lead, at larger times and longer scales, to microstructural localization phenomena such as shear banding flow-induced structure formation in the vorticity direction.