Transient behavior and steady-state rheology of dense frictional suspensions in pressure-driven channel flow

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AbstractResults from particle-resolved Direct numerical simulations are presented for dense suspensions of frictional non-colloidal spheres in viscous pressure-driven channel flow. The bulk solid volume fraction varies between $$\phi _b=0.2$$ ϕ b = 0.2 and 0.6, and the Coulomb friction coefficient is either $$\mu _c = 0$$ μ c = 0 or 0.5. The main objectives are to unravel the influence of (1) $$\phi _b$$ ϕ b and $$\mu _c$$ μ c on the flow development time and of (2) heterogeneous shear on the steady-state suspension rheology. Starting from an initially homogeneous distribution, the particles show shear-induced migration toward the core until equilibrium is reached. The flow development time decays exponentially with increasing $$\phi _b/\Phi _R$$ ϕ b / Φ R , where $$\Phi _R$$ Φ R is a friction-dependent reference bulk concentration beyond which particle contacts cause a rapid increase in the particle stress. The steady-state rheology is studied by means of the ‘viscous’ and ‘frictional’ rheology frameworks. Excluding the central core and wall regions, the data for the local relative suspension viscosity collapse onto a single curve as function of the normalized local concentration $${\bar{\phi }}/\phi _m$$ ϕ ¯ / ϕ m , where $$\phi _m$$ ϕ m is the friction-dependent maximum flowable packing fraction. The frictional rheology shows ‘subyielding’ at low viscous number $$I_v$$ I v in the core region, where the macroscopic friction coefficient $$\mu $$ μ drops below the minimal value found for homogeneous shear flows. A modified frictional rheology model is presented that captures subyielding. Finally, a model is presented for $${\bar{\phi }}/\phi _{mp}$$ ϕ ¯ / ϕ mp as function of $$I_v$$ I v , where $$\phi _{mp}$$ ϕ mp is a modified maximum flowable packing fraction. It captures both ‘overcompaction’ in the core beyond $$\phi _{m}$$ ϕ m at high $$\phi _b$$ ϕ b and maximum core concentrations below $$\phi _m$$ ϕ m at lower $$\phi _b$$ ϕ b .