164 research outputs found
Shear Viscosity of Clay-like Colloids in Computer Simulations and Experiments
Dense suspensions of small strongly interacting particles are complex
systems, which are rarely understood on the microscopic level. We investigate
properties of dense suspensions and sediments of small spherical Al_2O_3
particles in a shear cell by means of a combined Molecular Dynamics (MD) and
Stochastic Rotation Dynamics (SRD) simulation. We study structuring effects and
the dependence of the suspension's viscosity on the shear rate and shear
thinning for systems of varying salt concentration and pH value. To show the
agreement of our results to experimental data, the relation between bulk pH
value and surface charge of spherical colloidal particles is modeled by
Debye-Hueckel theory in conjunction with a 2pK charge regulation model.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
Irreversible Aging Dynamics and Generic Phase Behavior of Aqueous Suspensions of Laponite
In this work we study the aging behavior of aqueous suspension of Laponite
having 2.8 weight % concentration using rheological tools. At various salt
concentration all the samples demonstrate orientational order when observed
using crossed polarizers. In rheological experiments we observe inherent
irreversibility in the aging dynamics which forces the system not to rejuvenate
to the same state in the shear melting experiment carried out at a later date
since preparation. The extensive rheological experiments carried out as a
function of time elapsed since preparation demonstrate the self similar trend
in the aging behavior irrespective of the concentration of salt. We observe
that the exploration of the low energy states as a function of aging time is
only kinetically affected by the presence of salt. We estimate that the energy
barrier to attain the low energy states decreases linearly with increase in the
concentration of salt. The observed superposition of all the elapsed time and
the salt concentration dependent data suggests that the aging that occurs in
low salt concentration systems over a very long period is qualitatively similar
to the aging behavior observed in systems with high salt concentration over a
shorter period.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures. Langmuir, in pres
Clay micromechanics : an analysis of elementary mechanisms of clay particle interactions to gain insight into compression behaviour of clay
The macroscopic response of geomaterials is controlled by the processes occurring at the microscale. Understanding these processes is key to interpret experimental data, understand fundamental modes of stress-strain behaviour, inform ‘continuum’ macroscopic constitutive models, and develop quantitative predictive tools based on Discrete Element Method (DEM) approaches. Unlike granular materials, mechanisms at the particle scale controlling macro-mechanical behaviour of clays are still largely ignored. This paper presents an analysis of elementary mechanisms of clay particle interactions with the aim of gaining an insight into behaviour of clay and advance the process of defining suitable contact laws to be implemented into DEM formulations
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