Hydrodynamic transport properties of concentrated suspensions

A method of estimating the dependency of the relative viscosities and average sedimentation velocities of particle dispersions on the particle packing behavior, which is related to the shape (sphericity or aspect ratio) of the particle and the ruggedness of the particle surface is proposed. For each ensemble of microstructures, as determined by the flow system in which measurements are made (such as steady shear flow, high frequency dynamic shear flow, or sedimentation in a static fluid), a single master curve is obtained. These curves allow direct estimates of the relative viscosities or sedimentation velocities to be made if the maximum packing fraction is known.