Modeling and Analysis of Electrorheological Suspensions in Shear Flow

Abstract

A model capable of describing the flow behavior of electrorheological (ER) suspensions under different electric field strengths and over the full range of shear rates is proposed. Structural reformation in the low shear rate region is investigated where parts of a material are in an undeformed state, while aligned structures reform under the shear force. The model's predictions were compared with the experimental data of some ER fluids as well as the CCJ (Cho-Choi-Jhon) model. This simple model's predictions of suspension flow behavior with subsequent aligned structure reformation agreed well with the experimental data, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The proposed model plausibly predicted the static yield stress, whereas the CCJ model and the Bingham model predicted only the dynamic yield stress. The master curve describing the apparent viscosity was obtained by appropriate scaling both axes, which showed that a combination of dimensional analysis and flow curve analysis using the proposed model yielded a quantitatively and qualitatively precise description of ER fluid rheological behavior based on relatively few experimental measurements.