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Structure, diffusion and rheology of Brownian suspensions by Stokesian Dynamics simulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2000

DAVID R. FOSS
Affiliation:
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
JOHN F. BRADY
Affiliation:
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

Abstract

The non-equilibrium behaviour of concentrated colloidal dispersions is studied using Stokesian Dynamics, a molecular-dynamics-like simulation technique for analysing suspensions of particles immersed in a Newtonian fluid. The simulations are of a monodisperse suspension of Brownian hard spheres in simple shear flow as a function of the Péclet number, Pe, which measures the relative importance of hydrodynamic and Brownian forces, over a range of volume fraction 0.316 [les ] ϕ [les ] 0.49. For Pe < 10, Brownian motion dominates the behaviour, the suspension remains well-dispersed, and the viscosity shear thins. The first normal stress difference is positive and the second negative. At higher Pe, hydrodynamics dominate resulting in an increase in the long-time self-diffusivity and the viscosity. The first normal stress difference changes sign when hydrodynamics dominate. Simulation results are shown to agree well with both theory and experiment.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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