Coupled dynamics of flow, microstructure, and conductivity in sheared suspensions
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Updated: Mar 16, 2026

Dielectric RheoSANS — Simultaneous Interrogation of Impedance, Rheology and Small Angle Neutron Scattering of Complex Fluids
Published on: April 10, 2017
Tyler Olsen1, Ahmed Helal, Gareth H McKinley
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. kkamrin@mit.edu.
Abstract:
We propose a model for the evolution of the conductivity tensor for a flowing suspension of electrically conductive particles. We use discrete particle numerical simulations together with a continuum physical framework to construct an evolution law for the suspension microstructure during flow. This model is then coupled with a relationship between the microstructure and the electrical conductivity tensor. Certain parameters of the joint model are fit experimentally using rheo-electrical conductivity measurements of carbon black suspensions under flow over a range of shear rates. The model is applied to the case of steady shearing as well as time-varying conductivity of unsteady flow experiments. We find that the model prediction agrees closely with the measured experimental data in all cases.
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