An apparent viscosity function for shear thickening fluids

A new apparent viscosity function for shear thickening fluids is proposed, contemplating the three characteristic regions typically exhibited by these materials: slight shear thinning at low shear rates, followed by a sharp viscosity increase over a threshold shear rate value (critical shear rate), and a subsequent pronounced shear thinning region at high shear rates. The proposed function has a continuous derivative, making it appropriate in numerical simulations. Moreover, the function is shown to provide an excellent fit to several independent experimental data sets.