Emergence and persistence of flow inhomogeneities in the yielding and fluidization of dense soft solids.

In three-dimensional computer simulations of model non-Brownian jammed suspensions, we compute the time required to reach homogeneous flow upon yielding, by analyzing stresses and particle packing at different shear rates, with and without confinement. We show that the stress overshoot and persistent shear banding preceding the complete fluidization are controlled by the presence of overconstrained microscopic domains in the initial solids. Such domains, identifiable with icosahedrally packed regions in the model used, allow for stress accumulation during the shear startup. Their structural reorganization under deformation controls the emergence and the persistence of the shear banding.