One and two-fiber orientation kinetic theories of fiber suspensions

The morphology influencing rheological properties of suspensions of rigid spheres constitutes the flow induced collective ordering of the spheres characterized by two or more sphere distribution functions. When the rigid spheres are replaced by rigid fibers, the collective order in the position of the spheres is replaced by the flow induced orientation of the fibers that suffices to be characterized by one-fiber orientation distribution function. A flow induced collective ordering of fibers (both in position and orientation), that can only be characterized by two or more fiber distribution functions, can still however constitute an important part of the morphology. We show that two types of interaction among fibers, one being the Onsager-type topological interaction entering the free energy and the other the hydrodynamics interaction entering the dissipative part of the time evolution, give indeed rise to a collective order in the orientation influencing the rheology of fiber suspensions. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.