Dense Suspensions in Viscoelastic Media

Plan to research the rheology of dense suspensions in viscoelastic media; utilising computational methods to develop theoretical understanding. As of 2020, computational research into suspensions has focused mostly on Newtonian suspending media, with a limited number of works addressing the non-Newtonian (viscoelastic) case. There is a wealth of experimental research on the proposed topic; unfortunately, the lack of theoretical work has resulted in limited consolidation of experimental findings. Though the Newtonian case is simpler and better understood, the viscoelastic case is more representative of industrial, engineering and medical uses for suspensions. For example,paste extrusion processes such as those used to create shock absorbing composites or dense pastes used in foodstuffs and healthcare (e.g. toothpastes). Improvement to the quantitative understanding of VE suspension rheology could be used to highlight stagnation regions in reactors and mixers used to produce said suspensions, allowing engineers to investigate solutions. The overarching goal of my research will be to construct constitutive equations to describe the simulated behaviour in the dense regime, where the solid volume fraction of suspended particles is greater than 30%. These constitutive equations can then be used by engineering practitioners to provide quantitative predictions of real flows; thus assisting the advancement of process design.

Research Areas: "continuum mechanics" and "fluid dynamics and aerodynamics".