Testing the Wyart-Cates model for non-Brownian shear thickening using bidisperse suspensions [Dataset]

Raw simulation data and processed simulation and experimental data to support the article "Testing the Wyart-Cates model for non-Brownian shear thickening using bidisperse suspensions" by Ben M. Guy et al, published in Soft Matter and available on arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.02066. Further details are contained in the README files attached. ABSTRACT: There is a growing consensus that shear thickening of concentrated dispersions is driven by the formation of stress-induced frictional contacts. The Wyart-Cates (WC) model of this phenomenon, in which the microphysics of the contacts enters solely via the fraction f of contacts that are frictional, can successfully fit flow curves for suspensions of weakly polydisperse spheres. However, its validity for "real-life", polydisperse suspensions has yet to be seriously tested. By performing systematic simulations and experiments on bidisperse mixtures of spheres, we show that the WC model applies only in the monodisperse limit and fails when substantial bidispersity is introduced. Our results prompt new questions about the microphysics of thickening for both monodisperse and polydisperse systems. ## Acknowledgments ## The full list of funders is: > EPSRC EP/J007404/1 > EPSRC EP/N025318/1 > Maudslay-Butler Research Fellowship at Pembroke College, Cambridge > EPSRC SOFI CDT (EP/L015536/1) > The Royal Academy of Engineering > The Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship LTSRF1617/13/2