Dense Suspension Rheology

This year research on the rheological behavior of concentrated suspensions has (1) addressed theoretically the effect of interparticle forces on suspension rheology, (2) developed the Accelerated Stokesian Dynamics (ASD) method, and (3) used ASD to study the effects of surface roughness and sliding friction on rheological behavior. The goal has been to provide a quantitative microstructurally-based description of suspension rheology for a range of concentrations and particle-level interactions. This year most of the effort has been on the numerical side. Please note that not all of the work described here has been supported by IFPRI; for example, the work on ASD has been primarily supported by NASA.