Shear banding of colloidal glasses - a dynamic first order transition?

We demonstrate that application of an increasing shear field on a glass leads to an intriguing dynamic first order transition in analogy to equilibrium transitions. By following the particle dynamics as a function of the driving field in a colloidal glass, we identify a critical shear rate upon which the diffusion time scale of the glass exhibits a sudden discontinuity. Using a new dynamic order parameter, we show that this discontinuity is analogous to a first order transition, in which the applied stress acts as the conjugate field on the system's dynamic evolution. These results offer new perspectives to comprehend the generic shear banding instability of a wide range of amorphous materials.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Shear-induced anisotropic decay of correlations in hard-sphere colloidal glasses

Spatial correlations of microscopic fluctuations are investigated via real-space experiments and computer simulations of colloidal glasses under steady shear. It is shown that while the distribution of one-particle fluctuations is always isotropic regardless of the relative importance of shear as compared to thermal fluctuations, their spatial correlations show a marked sensitivity to the competition between shear-induced and thermally activated relaxation. Correlations are isotropic in the thermally dominated regime, but develop strong anisotropy as shear dominates the dynamics of microscopic fluctuations. We discuss the relevance of this observation for a better understanding of flow heterogeneity in sheared amorphous solids.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Non-Newtonian Couette-Poiseuille flow of a dilute gas

The steady state of a dilute gas enclosed between two infinite parallel plates in relative motion and under the action of a uniform body force parallel to the plates is considered. The Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook model kinetic equation is analytically solved for this Couette-Poiseuille flow to first order in the force and for arbitrary values of the Knudsen number associated with the shear rate. This allows us to investigate the influence of the external force on the non-Newtonian properties of the Couette flow. Moreover, the Couette-Poiseuille flow is analyzed when the shear-rate Knudsen number and the scaled force are of the same order and terms up to second order are retained. In this way, the transition from the bimodal temperature profile characteristic of the pure force-driven Poiseuille flow to the parabolic profile characteristic of the pure Couette flow through several intermediate stages in the Couette-Poiseuille flow are described. A critical comparison with the Navier-Stokes solution of the problem is carried out.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures; v2: discussion on boundary conditions added; 10 additional references. Published in a special issue of the journal "Kinetic and Related Models" dedicated to the memory of Carlo Cercignan

Density waves and the effect of wall roughnessin granular Poiseuille flow: Simulationand linear stability

The formation of density waves and the effect of wall roughness on them are studied using molecular dynamics simulations of gravity-driven granular Poiseuille flow. Three basic types of structures are found in moderately dense flows: a plug, a sinuous wave and a slug; a new varicose wave mode has been identified in dense flows with channels of large widths at moderate dissipations; only clump-like structures appear in dilute flows. The simulation results are contrasted with the predictions of a linear stability analysis of the kinetic-theory continuum equations for granular Poiseuille flow. The theoretical predictions on the form of density waves are in qualitative agreement with simulations in denser flows, however, there are discrepancies between simulation and theory in dilute flows

Nonaffine measures of particle displacements in sheared colloidal glasses

The nonaffine motion of particles is central to the relaxation and flow of glasses. It is usually assumed in plasticity theories that nonaffine rearrangements are localized and uncorrelated. Here we present evidence that this assumption may not hold. We investigate and compare systematically different measures of nonaffinity in a sheared colloidal glass by tracking the motion of the individual particles directly with confocal microscopy. We show that besides differences in the appearance and degree of localization of nonaffine displacements, the nature of their fluctuations is very similar. At intermediate times, all spatial correlation functions display robust power-law behavior, clearly demonstrating long-range correlations and critical behavior of the driven glass, in contrast to the assumptions of plasticity theories. We show that on long-time scales, correlations become finite and plasticity theories may apply

Correlations of strain and plasticity in a flowing foam

Via simulations of flowing foam, we connect the high- and intermediate-density regimes of complex fluid flows into a consistent microscopic picture of deformation. While at and above the jamming transition, elastic correlations lead to a strong spatial organization of the flow field, below jamming, the slowly diminishing elastic correlation length leads to a slowly ceasing spatial organization, which is nevertheless still present down to densities far below jamming. We show that the long-range–correlated flow field arises from the superposition of quadrupolar strain fields of shear zones with highly correlated positions, strengths and orientation. These interactions are still pertinent below jamming, where they systematically weaken with the slowly diminishing elastic correlation length. These results demonstrate the ubiquity and importance of elastic correlations in the flow of complex fluids even below the jamming transition, and motivate a scale-bridging description of their flow over wide ranges of density from solid to fluid