The Division of Materials Research contributes funds to this award. It supports theoretical and computational research and education on soft condensed matter and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics at the interface of materials research and mathematics. The research includes the study of the flow of particulate fluids, such as granular matter, emulsions or suspensions, in the vicinity of the jamming transition where these materials solidify. In various ways, the research contributes to the advance of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, and to the rheology of complex fluids.
The PI aims to use methods from theoretical physics to understand dense flows of particulate fluids. The rheology and the effects of confinement on flow properties near jamming have been studied experimentally in a variety of materials. It emerges that these fluids display a critical behavior at the jamming transition where the dynamics stops: the motion of the particles becomes more and more collective as the transition is approached, and the constitutive relations relating stress, strain rate and packing fraction scale with distance to threshold. The PI plans to study such phenomena through a combination of techniques from non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, probability theory, and geometry, with particular emphasis understanding the spatial nature of the 'soft modes' - the collective allowed motions of the particles- and their coupling to the flow. The PI plans in particular to construct a detailed theory of the relationship between the geometry of particle clusters generated in flows, their convection and break-up, and the soft modes characterizing them. Numerical simulations will be used to quantify these relationships, and to test for the applicability of concepts that have recently enhanced understanding of isotropic jammed materials, in particular the idea of marginal stability.
This award also supports interdisciplinary training for graduate students and post-docs through the opportunities provided by the research.
NONTECHNICAL SUMMARY:
The Division of Materials Research contributes funds to this award. It supports theoretical and numerical research and education on soft condensed matter and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics at the interface of materials research and mathematics. The research includes the study of the flow of particulate fluids, such as granular matter, emulsions, or suspensions, in the vicinity of the jamming transition where these flowing materials become rigid. For example food grains in a silo can flow easily through hoppers or the flowing grain becomes rigid and abruptly stops. In various ways, the research contributes to the advance of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics - the study of systems of many particles or components that are far from balance, and to the rheology of complex fluids.
The PI aims to use methods from theoretical physics to understand dense flows of particulate fluids. Particulate fluids, such as granular materials, are the most commonly processed materials in industry after water. Controlling the rheology of these materials is of considerable interest including in the cosmetic, energy, food and pharmaceutical industries. Potential applications of the funded research include controlling the fluidization of particulate fluids to lower the cost of their processing and transport. Fluidization is crucial for example for the extraction and transport of oil sands, that represent two thirds of liquid hydrocarbon resources but that are very costly to process. A better understanding of how particulate fluids flow contributes to efforts to make these resources available.
This research contributes to the intellectual foundations of the discovery of new materials, new technologies through a better understanding of the fundamental microscopic principles that governs them.
This award also supports interdisciplinary training for graduate students and post-docs through the opportunities provided by the research.
Most materials around us are not crystaline, but are instead amorphous. An example of such materials are particulate structures, such as granular media, suspensions, emulsions or glasses. These materials are the second most processed materials in industry after water, and they can behave as solids or as liquids depending on the conditions. Despite that, their physical properties are little understood, including the transition between the solid and the liquid phase. In this project we have built a theoretical framework to understand some key aspects of both the solid phase and the flowing phase, and the transiiton between the two. Our framework also unifies in a common description a priori very different materials such as sand, emulsions and suspensions. Our results range from the very theoretical (how to pack spheres in a random packing optimally) to the practical (why certain fluid thicken under shear). It also makes deep connection between amorphous solids and other systems in physics, called glassy, which display memory effects (they do not equilibrate). Glassy systems are used to model the brain, and our results are expected to have far-ranging consequences ranging from neuroscience to material science and engineering. This project has taught inter-disciplinary skills ranging from statistical mechanics, mathematics, material science to post-docs, students and undergraduates. The post-docs in the group have found jobs in academia, and the students and undergrads have developed skills extremelly useful for a wide range of industrial endeavour, if they do not follow the academic path.
