Homogenizing the viscosity of shear-thinning fiber suspensions with an FFT-based computational method

In this work, we investigate the fiber orientation dependent viscosity of fiber suspensions using a computational homogenization method. To improve computational prediction capabilities for the viscosity of fiber suspensions, we extend an existing, Fast Fourier Transform based computational approach for fiber suspensions with linear viscous, i.e., Newtonian, matrix behavior to nonlinear viscous matrix behavior. Specifically, a Cross-type shear-thinning rheology is assumed for the matrix fluid. We employ composite voxels to lower resolution requirements and find through resolution studies that the resolution error decreases for certain shear rates. Furthermore, we conduct a volume element study and find that the representative volume element sizes for engineering considerations in a specific Newtonian case and the investigated Cross-type case are highly similar. For shear rates of engineering process interest we visualize the effective suspension viscosity in three dimensions and study the effects of the fiber volume fraction and the imposed macroscopic shear rate tensor on the suspension viscosity. We find that the elongational viscosity and the degree of anisotropy of the suspension viscosity vary stronger with the shear rate for higher fiber volume fractions. In a comparison with an analytical mean-field model for the suspension viscosity, the deviations between the computational and analytical results turn out to be substantial.