Non-Newtonian fluids exhibiting complex rheological characteristics, such as yield stress
and thixotropy, are frequently encountered in nature and industries. Thixotropy is a time-
dependent shear thinning property, associated with the microstructural evolution of
materials. During a flowing process, two microstructure transition mechanisms are
considered to take place simultaneously: the recovery and the breakdown; the former makes
the materials more solid, while the latter makes them more liquid. The microstructure is …