Influence of the size distribution of particles on the viscous property of an electrorheological fluid

Wang, Z., Lin, Z. F. and Tao, R. B. (1997) Influence of the size distribution of particles on the viscous property of an electrorheological fluid. Chinese Physics Letters, 14 (2). pp. 151-154. ISSN 0256-307X doi: 10.1088/0256-307X/14/2/021

Abstract/Summary

The influence of the size distribution of particles on the viscous property of an electrorheological fluid has been investigated by the molecular dynamic simulation method. The shear stress of the fluid is found to decrease with the increase of the variance sigma(2) of the Gaussian distribution of the particle size, and then reach a steady value when sigma is larger than 0.5. This phenomenon is attributed to the influence of the particle size distribution on the dynamic structural evolution in the fluid as well as the strength of the different chain-like structures formed by the particles.