Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics of concentrated colloidal dispersions: Hard spheres in weak flows

Abstract

We formulate a theory for the nonequilibrium structure and stresses in a sheared suspension with a fluid rest state. Many body interactions are handled exactly in the thermodynamics but truncated at the pair level for the hydrodynamics. Evaluation for hard spheres in weak flows demonstrates the importance of stresses arising from the nonequilibrium structure and explains the shear rate dependence observed at volume fractions greater than 0.25–0.30.