English

Dynamics and rheology of particles in shear-thinning fluids

Fluid Dynamics 2018-02-27 v2

Abstract

Particle motion in non-Newtonian fluids can be markedly different than in Newtonian fluids. Here we look at the change in dynamics for a few problems involving rigid spherical particles in shear-thinning fluids in the absence of inertia. We give analytical formulas for sedimenting spheres, obtained by means of the reciprocal theorem, and demonstrate quantitively differences in comparison to a Newtonian fluid. We also calculate the first correction to the suspension viscosity, the Einstein viscosity, for a dilute suspension of spheres in a weakly shear-thinning fluid.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1712.03892,
  title  = {Dynamics and rheology of particles in shear-thinning fluids},
  author = {Charu Datt and Gwynn J. Elfring},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1712.03892},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

12 pages, 1 figure