On liquid migration in sheared granular matter

Abstract

Mixing liquids with powders is of great importance, e.g. in process engineering and for pharmaceutical applications. Generally, one might expect that homogeneously shearing or stirring wet granular matter would lead to a homogeneous liquid distribution, however, it is not clear what happens when shear is applied non-homogeneously, e.g. in shear bands. It is commonly accepted that at large liquid contents, liquid flows inside dilating zones as percolating liquid networks prevent air from entering the dilating pores, but it is unknown what happens at low liquid contents. We present experimental measurements showing a decreased liquid concentration inside a shear band where glass beads are sheared in a split bottom shear cell. Furthermore, a microscopic model for liquid transport at low liquid contents is presented, where fluid dynamics between individual liquid structures driven by Laplace pressure differences is taken into account. Our model shows liquid depletion patterns in quantitative agreement with experiments. On the other hand, our model is also applicable to the situation where shear is applied homogeneously, showing diffusive spreading of liquid. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.