NON-NEWTONIAN FLOW BETWEEN CONCENTRIC CYLINDERS CALCULATED FROM THERMOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES OBTAINED FROM SIMULATIONS

A study of the Weissenberg effect (rod climbing in a stirred system) based on nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) is reported. Simulation results from a soft-sphere fluid are used to obtain a self-consistent free-surface profile of the fluid of finite compressibility undergoing Couette flow between concentric cylinders. A numerical procedure is then applied to calculate the height profile for a hypothetical fluid with thermophysical properties of the soft-sphere liquid and of a dense colloidal suspension. The height profile calculated is identified with shear thickening and the forms of the viscometric functions. The maximum climb occurs between the cylinders rather than at the inner cylinder.