Inclined plane rheometry of a dense granular suspension

• Published in: Journal of rheology (New York : 1978) Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 65 - 79
• Main Authors: Bonnoit, C., Darnige, T., Clement, E., Lindner, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melville, NY The Society of Rheology 01.01.2010; Society of Rheology
• Subjects: Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Dense granular suspensions; Exact sciences and technology; Heterogeneous liquids: suspensions, dispersions, emulsions, pastes, slurries, foams, block copolymers, etc; Inclined plane rheometry; Material form; Particle migration; Physics; Rheological measurements; Rheology; Techniques and apparatus; Inclined plane rheometry; Particle migration; Dense granular suspensions; Particle suspension; Inclined plan; Rheology; Rheometer; Paste
• ISSN: 0148-6055; 1520-8516
• DOI: 10.1122/1.3258076

We present a new method to measure the viscosity of a dense model suspension using an inclined plane rheometer. The suspension is made of mono-disperse, spherical, non-Brownian polystyrene beads immersed in a density matched silicon oil. We show that with this simple set-up, the viscosity can be directly measured up to volume fractions of ϕ = 61 % and that particle migration can be neglected. The results are in excellent agreement with local viscosity measurements obtained by magnetic resonance imaging techniques by Ovarlez et al. [J. Rheol. 50(3), 259–292 (2006)]. In the high density regime, we show that the viscosity is within the tested range of parameters, independent of the shear rate and the confinement pressure. Finally, we discuss deviations from the viscous behavior of the suspensions.