We study the first breakage event of colloidal aggregates exposed to shear flow by detailed
numerical analysis of the process. We have formulated a model, which uses Stokesian
dynamics to estimate the hydrodynamic interactions among the particles in a cluster, van der
Waals interactions and Born repulsion to describe the normal interparticle interactions, and
the tangential interactions through discrete element method to account for contact forces.
Fractal clusters composed of monodisperse spherical particles were generated using …