Dense bidisperse suspensions under non-homogenous shear

TL;DR

This study investigates how non-uniform shear flow influences the rheology of bidisperse suspensions, revealing phase separation effects that significantly alter viscosity and particle interactions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that streamwise disturbances in shear flow induce phase separation in bidisperse suspensions, affecting rheological properties in a controlled manner.

Findings

Streamwise disturbance reduces relative viscosity.

Amplitude and wavenumber of disturbance control phase separation.

Phase separation causes particle layering and alters interactions.

Abstract

We study the rheological behaviour of bidisperse suspensions in three dimensions under a non-uniform shear flow, made by the superimposition of a linear shear and a sinusoidal disturbance. Our results show that i) only a streamwise disturbance in the shear-plane alters the suspension dynamics by substantially reducing the relative viscosity, ii) with the amplitude of the disturbance determining a threshold value for the effect to kick-in and its wavenumber controlling the amount of reduction and which of the two phases is affected. We show that, iii) the rheological changes are caused by the effective separation of the two phases, with the large or small particles layering in separate regions. We provide a physical explanation of the phase separation process and of the conditions necessary to trigger it. We test the results in the whole flow curve, and we show that the mechanism remains substantially unaltered, with the only difference being the nature of the interactions between particles modified by the phase separation.