Rigid clusters in shear-thickening suspensions: A nonequilibrium critical transition
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The onset and growth of rigid clusters in a two-dimensional (2D) suspension in shear flow are studied by numerical simulations. The suspension exhibits the lubricated-to-frictional rheology transition, but the key results here are for stresses above the levels that cause extreme shear thickening. At large solid fraction, ϕ , but below the stress-dependent jamming fraction, we find a critical ϕ c ( σ , μ ) where σ is a dimensionless shear stress and μ is the interparticle friction coefficient. For ϕ > ϕ c , the proportion of particles in rigid clusters grows sharply, as f rig ∼ | ϕ − ϕ c | β with β = 1 / 8 . The fluctuations in the fraction of particles in rigid clusters yield a susceptibility measure χ rig ∼ | ϕ − ϕ c | − γ with γ = 7 / 4 . The system is thus found to exhibit criticality. The results are shown to depend on an effective field h ( μ ) , which provides data collapse near ϕ c for both f rig and χ rig . This behavior occurs over a range of stresses, with ϕ c ( σ , μ ) increasing as the stress decreases.
Source: Physical Review Research
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,625
Funders: National Science Foundation, Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India, Ministry of Electronics and Information technology, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Division of Materials Research, Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems
Awards: Collaborative Research: Statistical mechanics of dense suspensions - dynamical correlations and scaling theory, Collaborative Research: Unified Field Theory of Soft Amorphous Solids, Collaborative Research: Statistical mechanics of dense suspensions - dynamical correlations and scaling theory, G7557880017
OpenAlex ID: W4408505267