Grebenkov Denis S, Ciamarra Massimo Pica, Nicodemi Mario, Coniglio Antonio
Dip.to di Scienze Fisiche, Universitá di Napoli Federico II and INFN, Naples, Italy.
Phys Rev Lett. 2008 Feb 22;100(7):078001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.078001. Epub 2008 Feb 19.
We study the rheological properties of a granular suspension subject to constant shear stress by constant volume molecular dynamics simulations. We derive the system "flow diagram" in the volume fraction or stress plane (phi, F): at low phi the flow is disordered, with the viscosity obeying a Bagnold-like scaling only at small F and diverging as the jamming point is approached; if the shear stress is strong enough, at higher phi an ordered flow regime is found, the order-disorder transition being marked by a sharp drop of the viscosity. A broad jamming region is also observed where, in analogy with the glassy region of thermal systems, slow dynamics followed by kinetic arrest occurs when the ordering transition is prevented.