Rheology of Complex Materials

Non-Newtonian fluids are encountered in various engineering applications. This course introduces concepts required to analyze the behaviour of such fluids. Since micro-structural features of materials are responsible for non-Newtonian nature, this course describes the most commonly used classes of material systems and their rheological behaviour.

Week 1: Flow phenomena in complex materials and microstructure; Complex materials; Applications of rheology, with some example material systems
Week 2: Stress, strain rate, velocity gradient; Kinematics for simple flows
Week 3: Rheometric flows; Rheometers – general review
Week 4: Tensors and index notation; Viscous fluids; Stress relaxation
Week 5: Maxwell model; Oscillatory shear
Week 6: Relaxation time spectrum; Generalized Maxwell model; Time temperature superposition; Solidlike materials
Week 7: General linear viscoelastic material – linear response; Review of material functions
Week 8: Survey – polymers; Survey – glass-rubber transition
Week 9: Survey – multiphase systems; Experimental artifacts – fluid mechanics of cone/plate geometry
Week 10: Strain and convected rate; Normal stress, stress growth
Week 11: Yield stress fluids – Hershel Belkley model, thixotropic fluids – Structural MODEL
Week 12: Terms in nonlinear models; Microscopic origin of stress