MATRheoMoODS - “Microstructure Analysis and Tensorial Rheological Models Of Dense Suspensions (n. SOE_20240000042)
Type
PNRR MUR Young Researchers SoE 2024 - Avviso pubblico MUR 201.2024
CUP
C93C24004740001
Principal Investigator
Luca Santelli (Università degli Studi di Padova - Dipartimento di Matematica "Tullio Levi Civita")
Duration
31/03/2025 - 30/03/2028
Description
The research focuses on the development of a physically well-founded mathematical model for the flow and jamming behaviour of highly concentrated suspensions of solid particles in viscous fluids and on the study of efficient computational strategies for their simulation. Implementing such models is crucial for industrial and natural processes that involve dense suspensions, and a predictive continuum theory that reproduces the dynamics of dense suspensions in generic conditions is not yet available. The rheology of dense suspensions features many surprising phenomena, ranging from shear thinning, continuous or discontinuous shear thickening and even shear jamming. A microscopic physics description needs to answer the key question of how the connectivity properties of the network result in enhanced stress transmission, while at a continuum level there is a clear need for comprehensive mathematical models able to describe the full range of effects encountered in suspension rheology. I seek to analyse microscopic data from dense suspension simulations in a way that guides implementation of continuum models for engineering-scale predictions. To that end, I pursue three main objectives:
1) Analyse the microscopic arrangement of particles and their contacts in a way that gives reliable information on the effective suspension behaviour, by investigating the particles contact network with innovative tools.
2) Build a tensorial continuum model able to exploit the knowledge acquired about microscopic phenomena, designing it to be applicable in realistic geometries.
3) Develop appropriate and innovative computational tools for the analysis and simulation of dense suspensions. This combines two aspects: algorithms for an efficient computational analysis of the microstructure properties and the contact network discretisation schemes and simulations based on the new continuum model, performed and validated in non-viscometric flows.
