Spatially periodic suspensions of convex particles in linear shear flows. II. Rheology

Abstract

Following the purely kinematical developments of Part 1, a rigorous analysis is presented of the “almost” time-periodic low Reynolds number hydrodynamics of a spatially periodic suspension of identical convex particles in a Newtonian liquid undergoing a macroscopically homogeneous linear shear flow. By considering the case of a single particle within a unit cell of the instantaneous spatially periodic configuration, the quasistatic dynamical analysis of this infinite-particle system is effected in much the same way as for a single particle suspended in an unbounded fluid. This is accomplished via the introduction of a partitioned hydrodynamic Stokes resistance matrix, linearly relating the force, couple and stresslet on the particle in the unit cell to the translational and rotational particle-(mean) suspension slip velocities and the mean rate-of-strain of the suspension. In contrast with the unbounded fluid case for a given geometry of the individual particles, the (purely geometric) elements of the resistance matrix depend upon the instantaneous lattice configuration.These dynamic quasistatic calculations for a given instantaneous lattice conformation, in particular that for the stresslet, are then appropriately averaged over both space and time for the class of almost time-periodic, lattice-reproducing, flows discussed in Part I. (In actually performing the time average, an important distinction is drawn between the ergodic and deterministic shear processes whose kinematical basis was laid in Part I.) In turn, this averaged dynamical information is translated into knowledge of the rheological properties of the macroscopically homogeneous suspension.A rigorous asymptotic, lubrication-theory analysis is performed during the course of an illustrative calculation of the rheological properties of a concentrated suspension of almost-touching spheres in a simple shear flow. Contrary to the findings of a previous heuristic treatment of this same lubrication-theory problem—one that ignores evolutionary variations in the instantaneous geometrical configuration of the spatially periodic suspension as the shear proceeds—the time-average properties of the suspension are found to be nonsingular in the limit.Finally, brief comments are offered on potential extensions of the scheme to include nonlinear phenomena, such as nonNewtonian fluids and inertial effects.