Macrostatistical hydrodynamics

Technical Report · Mon Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:5622063

Brenner, H

This work has been supported for the past three years by the US Department of Energy, Division of Engineering and Geosciences, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. During this time we studied suspensions of particles in Newtonian liquids, embodying a combination of analysis, experiment, and numerical simulation. Experiments primarily involved tracking small balls falling slowly through otherwise quiescent suspensions of neutrally buoyant particles. A theory was developed relating the average ball velocity to the macroscopic suspension viscosity, and, for dilute suspensions, agreement was obtained with Einstein's sheared suspension viscosity. Detailed trajectories of the balls, obtained either with new experimental techniques or by numerical simulation, were statistically interpreted in terms of the mean settling velocity and the dispersion about that mean. We showed that falling-ball rheometry, using small balls relative to the suspended particles, could be a means of measuring the macroscopic zero-shear-rate viscosity without disturbing the original microstructure significantly; therefore, falling-ball rheometry could be a powerful tool to study the effects of microstructure on the macroscopic properties of suspensions. 40 refs.

• Research Organization: Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge, MA (USA). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: FG02-88ER13896
• OSTI ID: 5622063
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/13896-3; ON: DE91012280
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640410* -- Fluid Physics-- General Fluid Dynamics
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
DISPERSIONS
DOCUMENT TYPES
FLUID MECHANICS
HYDRODYNAMICS
MAPPING
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MECHANICS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
PROGRESS REPORT
REAL TIME SYSTEMS
RHEOLOGY
RODS
SPHEROIDS
SUSPENSIONS
TOPOLOGICAL MAPPING
TRAJECTORIES
TRANSFORMATIONS
VISCOSITY