Dense particulate suspensions demonstrate a significant increase in average viscosity beyond a material-specific critical shear stress. Here, we analyze the steady-state structure of a suspension of monodisperse silica microspheres in the shear-thickening regime. Using dynamic measurement of boundary stress, we show that the flow is characterized by a cluster of high-stress fronts that propagate in the flow direction at a speed of 1/2 relative to the top plate of the rheometer. We apply high-speed line scan imaging to reveal dramatic fluctuations in particle speed, ordering, and concentration associated with the fronts and show that the structure is consistent with transiently jammed networks that contain high interparticle stresses that percolate across the rheometer gap, but which are present only briefly during the passage of the high-stress fronts.
REFERENCES
1.
Morris
, J. F.
, “Shear thickening of concentrated suspensions: Recent developments and relation to other phenomena
,” Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech.
52
, 121
–144
(2020
). 2.
Ding
, J.
, W.
Li
, and S. Z.
Shen
, “Research and applications of shear thickening fluids
,” Recent Pat. Mater. Sci.
4
, 43
–49
(2011
). 3.
Wagner
, N.
, and E. D.
Wetzel
, “Advanced body armor utilizing shear thickening fluids,” US patent 7,498,276 (2009).4.
Majumdar
, A.
, B. S.
Butola
, and A.
Srivastava
, “Optimal designing of soft body armour materials using shear thickening fluid
,” Mater. Des.
46
, 191
–198
(2013
). 5.
Manukonda
, B. H.
, V. A.
Chatterjee
, S. K.
Verma
, D.
Bhattacharjee
, I.
Biswas
, and S.
Neogi
, “Rheology based design of shear thickening fluid for soft body armor applications
,” Period. Polytech. Chem. Eng.
64
, 75
–84
(2020
). 6.
Ahmadi
, R.
, D.
D’Andrea
, D.
Santonocito
, and G.
Risitano
, “Fatigue investigation of 3D-printed notched PLA specimens by thermographic methods with FEM simulation integration
,” Procedia Struct. Integr.
53
, 97
–111
(2024
). 7.
Toussaint
, F.
, C.
Roy
, and P.-H.
Jézéquel
, “Reducing shear thickening of cement-based suspensions
,” Rheol. Acta
48
, 883
–895
(2009
). 8.
Roussel
, N.
, A.
Lemaître
, R. J.
Flatt
, and P.
Coussot
, “Steady state flow of cement suspensions: A micromechanical state of the art
,” Cem. Concr. Res.
40
, 77
–84
(2010
). 9.
Melrose
, J. R.
, and R. C.
Ball
, “‘Contact networks’ in continuously shear thickening colloids
,” J. Rheol.
48
, 961
–978
(2004
). 10.
Foss
, D. R.
, and J. F.
Brady
, “Structure, diffusion and rheology of Brownian suspensions by Stokesian dynamics simulation
,” J. Fluid Mech.
407
, 167
–200
(2000
). 11.
Gurnon
, A. K.
, and N. J.
Wagner
, “Microstructure and rheology relationships for shear thickening colloidal dispersions
,” J. Fluid Mech.
769
, 242
–276
(2015
). 12.
Lin
, N. Y.
, B. M.
Guy
, M.
Hermes
, C.
Ness
, J.
Sun
, W. C.
Poon
, and I.
Cohen
, “Hydrodynamic and contact contributions to continuous shear thickening in colloidal suspensions
,” Phys. Rev. Lett.
115
, 228304
(2015
). 13.
Ong
, E. Y. X.
, M.
Ramaswamy
, R.
Niu
, N. Y. C.
Lin
, A.
Shetty
, R. N.
Zia
, G. H.
McKinley
, and I.
Cohen
, “Stress decomposition in LAOS of dense colloidal suspensions
,” J. Rheol.
64
, 343
–351
(2020
). 14.
Singh
, A.
, R.
Mari
, M. M.
Denn
, and J. F.
Morris
, “A constitutive model for simple shear of dense frictional suspensions
,” J. Rheol.
62
, 457
–468
(2018
). 15.
Singh
, A.
, C.
Ness
, R.
Seto
, J. J.
de Pablo
, and H. M.
Jaeger
, “Shear thickening and jamming of dense suspensions: The “roll” of friction
,” Phys. Rev. Lett.
124
, 248005
(2020
). 16.
Wyart
, M.
, and M.
Cates
, “Discontinuous shear thickening without inertia in dense non-Brownian suspensions
,” Phys. Rev. Lett.
112
, 098302
(2014
). 17.
Cates
, M. E.
, and M.
Wyart
, “Granulation and bistability in non-Brownian suspensions
,” Rheol. Acta
53
, 755
–764
(2014
). 18.
Mari
, R.
, R.
Seto
, J. F.
Morris
, and M. M.
Denn
, “Discontinuous shear thickening in Brownian suspensions by dynamic simulation
,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
112
, 15326
–15330
(2015
). 19.
Comtet
, J.
, G.
Chatté
, A.
Nigues
, L.
Bocquet
, A.
Siria
, and A.
Colin
, “Pairwise frictional profile between particles determines discontinuous shear thickening transition in non-colloidal suspensions
,” Nat. Commun.
8
, 15633
(2017
). 20.
Royer
, J. R.
, D. L.
Blair
, and S. D.
Hudson
, “Rheological signature of frictional interactions in shear thickening suspensions
,” Phys. Rev. Lett.
116
, 188301
(2016
). 21.
Jamali
, S.
, and J. F.
Brady
, “Alternative frictional model for discontinuous shear thickening of dense suspensions: Hydrodynamics
,” Phys. Rev. Lett.
123
, 138002
(2019
). 22.
Jamali
, S.
, A.
Boromand
, N.
Wagner
, and J.
Maia
, “Microstructure and rheology of soft to rigid shear-thickening colloidal suspensions
,” J. Rheol.
59
, 1377
–1395
(2015
). 23.
Guy
, B.
, M.
Hermes
, and W.
Poon
, “Towards a unified description of the rheology of hard-particle suspensions
,” Phys. Rev. Lett.
115
, 088304
(2015
). 24.
Clavaud
, C.
, A.
Bérut
, B.
Metzger
, and Y.
Forterre
, “Revealing the frictional transition in shear-thickening suspensions
,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
114
, 5147
–5152
(2017
). 25.
Richards
, J.
, J.
Royer
, B.
Liebchen
, B.
Guy
, and W.
Poon
, “Competing timescales lead to oscillations in shear-thickening suspensions
,” Phys. Rev. Lett.
123
, 038004
(2019
). 26.
Rathee
, V.
, D. L.
Blair
, and J. S.
Urbach
, “Localized stress fluctuations drive shear thickening in dense suspensions
,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
114
, 8740
–8745
(2017
). 27.
Rathee
, V.
, D. L.
Blair
, and J. S.
Urbach
, “Localized transient jamming in discontinuous shear thickening
,” J. Rheol.
64
, 299
–308
(2020
). 28.
Rathee
, V.
, D. L.
Blair
, and J. S.
Urbach
, “Dynamics and memory of boundary stresses in discontinuous shear thickening suspensions during oscillatory shear
,” Soft Matter
17
, 1337
–1345
(2021
). 29.
Rathee
, V.
, J.
Miller
, D. L.
Blair
, and J. S.
Urbach
, “Structure of propagating high-stress fronts in a shear-thickening suspension
,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
119
, e2203795119
(2022
). 30.
Miller
, J. M.
, D. L.
Blair
, and J. S.
Urbach
, “Order and density fluctuations near the boundary in sheared dense suspensions
,” Front. Phys.
10
, 991540
(2022
). 31.
Gauthier
, A.
, M.
Pruvost
, O.
Gamache
, and A.
Colin
, “A new pressure sensor array for normal stress measurement in complex fluids
,” J. Rheol.
65
, 583
–594
(2021
). 32.
Gauthier
, A.
, G.
Ovarlez
, and A.
Colin
, “Shear thickening in presence of adhesive contact forces: The singularity of cornstarch
,” J. Colloid Interface Sci.
650
, 1105
–1112
(2023
). 33.
Moghimi
, E.
, J. S.
Urbach
, and D. L.
Blair
, “Stress and flow inhomogeneity in shear-thickening suspensions
,” J. Colloid Interface Sci.
678
, 218
–225
(2025
). 34.
Shereda
, L. T.
, R. G.
Larson
, and M. J.
Solomon
, “Boundary-driven colloidal crystallization in simple shear flow
,” Phys. Rev. Lett.
105
, 228302
(2010
). 35.
Cheng
, X.
, X.
Xu
, S. A.
Rice
, A. R.
Dinner
, and I.
Cohen
, “Assembly of vorticity-aligned hard-sphere colloidal strings in a simple shear flow
,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
109
, 63
–67
(2011
). 36.
Xu
, X.
, S. A.
Rice
, and A. R.
Dinner
, “Influence of interlayer exchanges on vorticity-aligned colloidal string assembly in a simple shear flow
,” J. Phys. Chem. Lett.
4
, 3310
–3315
(2013
). 37.
Mackay
, F. E.
, K.
Pastor
, M.
Karttunen
, and C.
Denniston
, “Modeling the behavior of confined colloidal particles under shear flow
,” Soft Matter
10
, 8724
–8730
(2014
). 38.
Haw
, M. D.
, W. C. K.
Poon
, and P. N.
Pusey
, “Direct observation of oscillatory-shear-induced order in colloidal suspensions
,” Phys. Rev. E
57
, 6859
–6864
(1998
). 39.
Yeo
, K.
, and M. R.
Maxey
, “Ordering transition of non-Brownian suspensions in confined steady shear flow
,” Phys. Rev. E
81
, 051502
(2010
). 40.
Cohen
, I.
, T. G.
Mason
, and D. A.
Weitz
, “Shear-induced configurations of confined colloidal suspensions
,” Phys. Rev. Lett.
93
, 046001
(2004
). 41.
Reinmüller
, A.
, E. C.
Oğuz
, R.
Messina
, H.
Löwen
, H. J.
Schöpe
, and T.
Palberg
, “Confined colloidal crystals in and out of equilibrium
,” Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top.
222
, 3011
–3022
(2013
). 42.
Melrose
, J. R.
, and R. C.
Ball
, “Continuous shear thickening transitions in model concentrated colloids—The role of interparticle forces
,” J. Rheol.
48
, 937
–960
(2004
). 43.
Catherall
, A. A.
, J. R.
Melrose
, and R. C.
Ball
, “Shear thickening and order–disorder effects in concentrated colloids at high shear rates
,” J. Rheol.
44
, 1
–25
(2000
). 44.
Lee
, J.
, Z.
Jiang
, J.
Wang
, A. R.
Sandy
, S.
Narayanan
, and X.-M.
Lin
, “Unraveling the role of order-to-disorder transition in shear thickening suspensions
,” Phys. Rev. Lett.
120
, 028002
(2018
). 45.
Goyal
, A.
, E.
Del Gado
, S. Z.
Jones
, and N. S.
Martys
, “Ordered domains in sheared dense suspensions: The link to viscosity and the disruptive effect of friction
,” J. Rheol.
66
, 1055
–1065
(2022
). 46.
Moghimi
, E.
, D. L.
Blair
, and J. S.
Urbach
, “Precise and accurate speed measurements in rapidly flowing dense suspensions
,” Front. Phys.
12
, 1480376
(2024
). 47.
Royer
, J. R.
, G. L.
Burton
, D. L.
Blair
, and S. D.
Hudson
, “Rheology and dynamics of colloidal superballs
,” Soft Matter
11
, 5656
–5665
(2015
). 48.
Dutta
, S. K.
, A.
Mbi
, R. C.
Arevalo
, and D. L.
Blair
, “Development of a confocal rheometer for soft and biological materials
,” Rev. Sci. Instrum.
84
, 063702
(2013
). 49.
Style
, R. W.
, R.
Boltyanskiy
, G. K.
German
, C.
Hyland
, C. W.
MacMinn
, A. F.
Mertz
, L. A.
Wilen
, Y.
Xu
, and E. R.
Dufresne
, “Traction force microscopy in physics and biology
,” Soft Matter
10
, 4047
–4055
(2014
). 50.
Larsen
, R. J.
, J.-W.
Kim
, C. F.
Zukoski
, and D. A.
Weitz
, “Fluctuations in flow produced by competition between apparent wall slip and dilatancy
,” Rheol. Acta
53
, 333
–347
(2014
). 51.
Bossis
, G.
, P.
Boustingorry
, Y.
Grasselli
, A.
Meunier
, R.
Morini
, A.
Zubarev
, and O.
Volkova
, “Discontinuous shear thickening in the presence of polymers adsorbed on the surface of calcium carbonate particles
,” Rheol. Acta
56
, 415
–430
(2017
). 52.
Mewis
, J.
, and N. J.
Wagner
, Colloidal Suspension Rheology
(Cambridge University
, Cambridge
, 2012
), Vol. 10.53.
Myung
, J. S.
, S.
Song
, and K. H.
Ahn
, “Dynamics of model-stabilized colloidal suspensions in confined Couette flow
,” J. Non-Newton. Fluid Mech.
199
, 29
–36
(2013
). 54.
Angerman
, P.
, B.
Sandnes
, R.
Seto
, and M.
Ellero
, “Numerical simulations of spatiotemporal instabilities in discontinuous shear thickening fluids,” arXiv:2408.08285 (2024).You do not currently have access to this content.
