RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN DENSE SUSPENSION RHEOLOGY

Further developments in the application of particulate simulation techniques to non-Newtonian flow phenomena of dense suspensions are reported. At the last review stage by Barnes and co-workers, the origin and description of various characteristic behaviours of dense suspensions, as seen in simple scaleable isokinetic models was reported. In the present paper, progress towards the absolute prediction of both phase behaviour and the quantitative shear-flow rheology of well-characterised suspensions of mondisperse spherical fine particles in otherwise Newtonian media is reported. Experimental, simulation and theoretical results are reported for these idealised systems. The combined results, along with other recent contributions to the literature, are used to explain (i) the difficulties in the experimental measurement of the definitive rheology for dense particulates in general, (ii) how scaling laws can be derived to predict the rheology using the concepts of 'granular temperatures' and 'osmotic pressures' when the inteparticle forces dominate and (iii) the implications of these observations for fluid mechanics and design predictions from experimental, theoretical and, now, computational rheometric flow curves.