Experimental and numerical investigations of the shear behavior of binary particle blends

Abstract

AbstractIn this study, a Schulze ring shear tester and the discrete element method (DEM) are employed to investigate the effect of polydispersity on the binary shear flows. Both experimental results and DEM simulations show that the preshear stresses are greater for binary blends than for monodispersed particles. The flowability of these mixtures is strongly affected by the solid fraction, with minimal flow function values correlating to maximum packing fraction. However, minimum flow function values are not observed at the same packing fractions where the maximum preshear stress occurs. Using DEM, it is demonstrated that the decrease of angular velocity of larger particles due to the addition of small adhesive particles reduces and the fraction of large‐small particle contact both make contributions to shear stress difference. A mechanism is proposed to quantify the effects of these two factors.