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Progress and challenges in suspension rheology

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Abstract

Developments in the last century, and especially in the last 50 years, have advanced understanding of suspension rheology greatly. Here, a limited review of suspension work over this period is presented, emphasizing advances over the last three decades in understanding of the particle pressure and strong shear thickening, which were motivated by crucial experimental observations, computational advances, and a critical review, all from the 1980s. This review serves as a preview to some outstanding challenges in suspension mechanics. This article considers primarily dispersions of spherical particles, which serve not only as a model material for understanding the rheology of more complex fluids of practical relevance, but also as a basic system for the study of nonequilibrium statistical physics.

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Acknowledgements

The research described here was in large measure the accomplishment of students and collaborators with whom I have been fortunate to work. For my start in suspensions and the push in the direction of their statistical physics, I owe John Brady (Caltech) a debt of gratitude, and for our many years of deeply stimulating work together, I owe a similar debt to Élisabeth Guazzelli (CNRS). The lecture upon which this work is based was dedicated in memoriam to James Swan and Yevgeny Yurkovetsky, two rheologists from whom I learned a great deal and who passed away far too soon.

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The preparation of this paper was supported by NSF CBET-2228680.

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  1. Levich Institute and Department of Chemical Engineering, CUNY City College of New York, 140th St. and Convent. Ave., New York, NY, 10031, USA

    Jeffrey F. Morris

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Morris, J.F. Progress and challenges in suspension rheology. Rheol Acta 62, 617–629 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00397-023-01421-z

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