Direct measurements of shear-induced particle migration in suspensions of bimodal spheres

Abstract

A variety of studies reported in the literature have established that initially well mixed suspensions subjected to non-homogeneous shear flows attain an anisotropic particulate structure. It has also been shown that non-homogeneous shearing causes suspensions of unimodal spheres to demix, i.e., gradients in solids concentration are formed. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of non-homogeneous shear flows on suspensions of bimodal particles, and specifically, to determine if the solids concentration gradients which develop are accompanied by size segregation of the coarse with respect to the fine fraction. We used the simplest and most direct methods to determine the relative solids concentrations: visual observation of tracer particles in transparent suspensions and physical separation of the coarse and fine solid fractions. Three different types of non-homogeneous shear flows were examined, and in each case the data support two main conclusions: 1) suspended particles migrate from regions of high shear rate to regions of low shear rate, and 2) the coarse fraction of particles migrates much faster than the fine fraction, leading to size segregation of initially well-mixed suspensions. While the former conclusion is consistent with other studies reported in the literature, to our knowledge this paper provides the first data supporting and, to a limited extent, quantifying the latter conclusion.