Constitutive equations for internal variables thermodynamics of suspensions (Q1031050)

A description of mixtures, including matter diffusion and suspensions, is analyzed from a thermodynamic viewpoint with internal variables. In order to consider dissipative effects due to thermodiffusion, the authors introduce a set of \(N\) independent scalar internal variables denoted by \(\gamma_A\). The behavior of the mixture is therefore described by a state space \(W\) including the classical variables mass density, mass concentration, temperature, and internal variables together with their first and second gradients satisfying evolution equations so they extend the results of \textit{M. Francaviglia}, \textit{A. Palumbo} and \textit{P. Rogolino} [J. Non-Equilibrium Thermodyn. 33, No. 2, 149--164 (2008;Zbl 1214.82040)] to the case of a two-component mixture with one fluid and one solid, i.e. suspensions. Such an extension not only will require the use of more general constitutive relations in which internal variables enter not alone but rather along with their first and second space gradients but will of course introduce further contributions to the energy production, to the extraflux and to the Clausius-Duhem inequality. So from the Clausius-Duhem inequality, the authors obtain the general thermodynamic restriction. The most important results of the this paper lie in the fact that they obtain the evolution equations for the heat and diffusion fluxes which will allow the study of the propagation of acoustic waves in suspensions and in nano-particless suspensions where the temperature gradients are very high.