<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>K</mml:mi></mml:math>-core analysis of shear-thickening suspensions
Omer Sedes, Hernán A. Makse, Bulbul Chakraborty, Jeffrey F. Morris
Abstract
Strong continuous and discontinuous shear thickening (CST and DST) have been shown to be rationalized by the formation of a network of frictional contacts. This continuously evolving network is investigated here using k-core analysis of configurations obtained based on a discrete-particle simulation method. The approach identifies clusters in which each particle has at least k contacts with other particles in the same cluster. We find that the k-core structures display universal behavior as a function of contact number except at the shear thickening transition, where there is a sharp increase in the stress carried by the 3-cores in DST, with this increase largely absent for CST.