Kinetic theory of nonlinear viscous flow in two and three dimensions

Abstract

On the basis of a nonlinear kinetic equation for a moderately dense system of hard spheres and disks it is shown that shear and normal stresses in a steady-state, uniform shear flow contain singular contributions of the form ¦X¦3/2 for hard spheres, or ¦X¦ log ¦X¦ for hard disks. HereX is proportional to the velocity gradient in the shear flow. The origin of these terms is closely related to the hydrodynamic tails t–d/2 in the current-current correlation functions. These results also imply that a nonlinear shear viscosity exists in two-dimensional systems. An extensive discussion is given on the range ofX values where the present theory can be applied, and numerical estimates of the effects are given for typical circumstances in laboratory and computer experiments.