The unraveling of a polymer chain in a strong extensional flow

By assuming that in a strong extensional flow a polymer molecule in dilute solution is quickly driven into a folded or kinked state in which drag and entropic elastic forces dominate over the Brownian force, we derive kink dynamics equations that describe the unraveling of the molecule in the extensional flow. Solving these equations numerically, we find that although the ends of the chain move, on average, affinely in the flow field until the chain is unfolded to about 1/3 of its fully extended length, large viscous stresses are produced because the solvent must flow around nonextending strands of polymer that lie between neighboring kinks. These predictions are compared with available experimental data and with other theoretical models.     

Anisotropic conduction of heat in a flowing polymeric material

In this paper a theory is presented which relates the thermal conductivity tensor of an amorphous polymeric material to the history of deformation of the material. The basis of the theory is formed by the network theory for polymeric materials. It will be shown that the results obtained here are in good agreement with experimental results on rubber. The effect of anisotropic heat conduction on the flow of a polymeric material will be demonstrated by the simple example of viscous heating in shear flow.Presented at the Golden Jubilee Conference of the British Society of Rheology and Third European Rheology Conference, Edinburgh, 3–7 September, 1990.     

Steady and modulated flow of an Ostwald fluid around a rotating disk

The solutions of the continuity equation and the equations of motion of the flow in the vicinity of a rotating disk have been established for an Ostwald fluid under steady-state conditions and in modulated flow around a mean value. Under steady-state conditions, the kinematics of the flow is scarcely dependent on the rheological parameters close to the disk, however, for n < 1 long-range effects have been put forward. For modulated flow, in the high-frequency range, a behaviour very different from that observed for a Newtonian fluid was found. In the low-frequency range an asymptotic solution has been proposed which is of special interest in mass transfer problems.Presented at the Second Conference of European Rheologists, Prague, June 17–20, 1986     

Lubricated and nonlubricated squeezing flow of a double layered array of two power law liquids

Force-time relationships of a double-layered array of two power law liquids in squeezing flow at a constant displacement rate were generated with a computer. As in the case of a single layer, lubrication, or lack of it, has the strongest influence on the magnitude of the forces and the flow pattern. Transient flow regimes that were prominent in the behavior of Newtonian liquid arrays in lubricated squeezing flow were also found in the behavior of the power law liquids. Their prominence was influenced by the liquid's flow index and it was drastically magnified as the differences in the liquid's consistency increased.     

Lubricated squeezing flow of a Newtonian liquid between elastic and rigid plates

Theoretical force-time relationships were derived for squeezing flow of a Newtonian liquid between lubricated rigid and elastic plates. It is shown how the elastic number, representing the ratio between the elastic plate's rigidity and the specimen's viscosity, affects the force-time curve and under what circumstances the fluid specimen's thickness becomes a significant factor. Potential implications of the analysis in oral sensory evaluations of viscous foods are also considered.     

Anomalous steady flows in a tube

Tube flow of a viscoelastic liquid of the multiple integral type driven by periodic forcing is investigated. It is shown that mean longitudinal and secondary flows exist, independently of the explicit form of the constitutive functions, due to frequency cancellation when the forcing oscillates around a zero mean. Closed form expressions are given for these non-trivial flows at the lowest order of the algorithm where nonlinear effects appear.Presented at the Third European Rheology Conference, Edinburgh, UK, Sept. 3–7, 1990.     

Pressure driven flow of dilute polymer solutions in a channel: Analytic results for very small and for very large channels

Kinetic theory of dilute macromolecular solutions is applied to pressure driven flow in a small channel where wall- (and interfacial) layers have to be reckoned with. The complete rheology is studied. It turns out that for very small channels both the shear stress and the normal stress are an order of magnitude larger than corresponding quantities in simple shear. On the other hand, when the channel is so wide that the wall layers are very thin in comparison, agreement with results appropriate for simple shear is found. The volume flow rate-pressure difference relation is derived and compared to the prediction which utilizes the slip velocity concept. For very small channels, this concept is five orders of magnitude off, but reproduces asymptotically correct results for very large channels.     

On the continuous squeezing flow in a wedge

The paper is concerned with the continuous squeezing flow of Oldroyd-type fluids in a two-dimensional wedge. The flow mimics the lubrication action in a squeezing flow and is important in that there exists a similarity solution for any simple fluid. We are only concerned with Oldroyd-type fluids, however. It is shown by using a parameter continuation method that the Oldroyd-B model has a limiting Weissenberg number. The Phan Thien/Tanner model does not have this limiting Weissenberg number.     

The squeezing flow of a model suspension fluid

The paper is concerned with the squeezing flow of a model suspension fluid. The numerical solution obtained by a time-dependent Boundary Element Method is compared to an asymptotic solution at large radius. It is found that the kinematics are Newtonian in character, and the fibres quickly align themselves radially. Consequently, the squeezing force is only weakly dependent on the initial orientations of the fibres and the device can be used for measuring the effective viscosity of the suspension. The effective viscosity found from the squeezing flow agrees surprisingly well with experimental data and numerical data derived from the falling sphere geometry at low volume fractions ( < 0.1).     

Analysis of Taylor vortex flow by means of laser light scattering

Rheological measurements and light-scattering experiments were performed on dilute solutions of high molecular polystyrene. We are able to describe the orientation behavior of chain molecules under shear flow by means of light-scattering. Beyond that these investigations of light-scattering of flowing polymer solutions are an useful and suitable tool for detection and characterization of Taylor vortex formation. We can estimate the appearance of these hydrodynamic instabilities, which overlay the laminar main flow and we can observe a typical influence of the solvent power on it.Presented in part at the meeting of the Deutsche Rheologische Gesellschaft, Berlin, 13–15 May, 1991.     

Peristaltic transport of a power-law fluid: Application to the ductus efferentes of the reproductive tract

The problem of peristaltic transport of a non-Newtonian (power-law) fluid in uniform and non-uniform two-dimensional channels has been investigated under zero Reynolds number with long wavelength approximation. A comparison of the results with those for a Newtonian fluid model shows that the magnitude of pressure rise, under a given set of conditions, is smaller in the case of the non-Newtonian fluid (power-law indexn < 1) at zero flow rate. Further, the pressure rise is smaller asn decreases from 1 at zero flow rate, is independent ofn at a certain value of flow rate and becomes greater if flow rate increases further. Also, at a given flow rate, an increase in wavelength leads to a decrease in pressure rise and increase in the influence of non-Newtonian behaviour. Pressure rise in the case of non-uniform geometry, is found to be much smaller than the corresponding value in the case of uniform geometry. Finally, the analysis is applied and compared with observed flow rates in the ductus efferentes of the male reproductive tract.     

Taylor-Couette stability analysis for a Doi-Edwards fluid

The stability of Taylor-Couette flow of entangled polymeric solutions to small axisymmetric stationary disturbances is analyzed using the Doi-Edwards constitutive equation in the small gap limit. A previous analysis of Karlsson, Sokolov, and Tanner for the general K-BKZ equation, of which the Doi-Edwards equation is a special case, reduces the problem to one of numerically evaluating seven viscoelastic functions of the shear rate in the gap. Of these seven, only three — two of which are related to the second normal stress difference, and one of them to shear thinning — significantly affect the flow stability. The negative second normal stress difference of the Doi-Edwards fluid stabilizes the flow at low values of the Weissenberg number ₁ , while shear thinning produces strong destabilization at moderate Weissenberg number. Here ₁ is the longest relaxation time. Non-monotonic effects of viscoelasticity on Taylor-Couette stability analogous to those predicted here have been observed in experiments of Giesekus. The extreme shear thinning of the Doi-Edwards fluid is also predicted to produce a large growth in the height of the Taylor cells, a phenomenon that has been seen experimentally by Beavers and Joseph.     

The motion of rodlike particles in the pressure-driven flow between two flat plates

The motion of freely suspended rodlike particles has been observed in the pressure-driven flow between the two flat plates of a Hele Shaw flow cell at low Reynolds numbers. Data are reported for rodlike particles with aspect ratios of 12.0 suspended in a Newtonian fluid for gap thickness to particle length ratios of 3, 6, and 20; and for rodlike particles with aspect ratios between 5 and 8 in a non-Newtonian fluid (79.25 wt.% water, 20.2 wt.% glycerine, and 0.55 wt.% polyacrylamide). For the Newtonian fluid, the time-dependent orientation of the particles near and far from walls was shown to be in quantitative agreement with Jeffery's theory for ellipsoids suspended in a simple shear flow if an effective aspect ratio is calculated from the experimental period of rotation. Particles aligned with the flow direction and less than a particle half-length from a wall interacted irreversibly with the wall. For the non-Newtonian fluid, the timedependent orientation far from a wall was shown to be in qualitative agreement with Leal's theory for a second-order fluid; however, particles that were aligned with the flow direction and were near walls did not rotate.     

Shear and extensional flow of polyacrylamide solutions

As part of an EEC Science Stimulation programme on extensional viscosity two major conferences were organised on the subject. The second of these was devoted to the results obtained on a standard fluid, M 1. The data obtained in shear flow was remarkably consistent from laboratory to laboratory. Extensional flow results presented quite a different picture. Using a series of nonequilibrium techniques such as the spinline rheometer, opposing jet, falling drop and converging flow, extensional viscosity results were obtained which differed by as much as two to three orders of magnitude. Nevertheless, it was apparent that consistancy did exist between similar techniques. It is in the context of this information that the measurements described below have been made.The shear and extensional flow properties of partially ionised polyacrylamide in solution at concentrations ranging from 5 ppm were measured. The method of solution preparation was found to have a profound effect on the behaviour of the solutions in shear flow. The influence of salt concentration and pH was investigated and is discussed in the context of molecular shape in solution.Extensional flow measurements, using the spinline rheometer, show that the solutions are strongly strain thickening even at concentrations as low as 5 ppm. These results are considered in the light of polymer entanglement and association in the strong flow field.Delivered as a Keynote Lecture at the Golden Jubilee Conference of the British Society of Rheology and Third European Rheology Conference, Edinburgh, 3–7 September, 1990.     

Newtonian stratified flow through an abrupt expansion

The present paper is devoted to the numerical simulations of stratified generalized Newtonian flow. The main feature of the algorithm is to include the coordinates of the interface as primitive unknowns of the flow problem together with the nodal velocity components and pressures calculated on a deformable finite element mesh. Newton-Raphson's iterative method is used for solving the non-linear problem. Special attention is given to the location of the intersection between the interface and a solid boundary, when it is unknown at the outset. The method is applied to the creeping stratified flow of two Newtonian fluids through a one-to-four abrupt expansion; the results remain valid for the contraction problem. It is found that, under appropriate conditions, the small Newtonian corner vortex can increase by a large factor, both in size and intensity; the degrees of freedom of the simulation are the ratios of flow-rate and of viscosity of the fluids.     

Extensional flow resistance of dilute polyacrylamide and surfactant solutions

The extensional flow behaviour of dilute aqueous solutions of a partiallyhy-drolyzed polyacrylamide and a surfactant were investigated in an extensional flow cell. The cell was designed such that fluids were subjected to steady shear before undergoing extensional motion in a converging channel. Extensional resistance was monitored by measuring the pressure drop through the channel. Such measurements were made over a range of extensional rates at fixed values of the upstream shear rate. Solutions of different concentrations were tested — up to 40 ppm of polyacrylamide and 450 ppm of surfactant — at various temperatures in the case of surfactant and for different types and amounts of salt in the case of polyacrylamide. Of the results, the more notable are that the extensional resistance of polyacrylamide solutions is affected much more by CaCl₂ than by NaCl and that surfactant solutions do not exhibit extensional resistance unless they are pre-sheared.     

Numerical solution for the flow of viscoelastic fluids around an inclined circular cylinder.

Finite difference solutions have been obtained by the perturbation method to investigate the influence of shear thinning and elasticity on the flow around an inclined circular cylinder of finite length in a uniform flow. In this numerical analysis a generalized upper-convected Maxwell model, in which the viscosity changes according to the Cross model, has been used.The local flow over the cylinder is only slightly deflected. However, in the wake flow behind the cylinder the particle path is remarkably influenced by the axial flow and rapidly flows up parallel to the cylinder's axis. Then it gradually rejoins direction of the incoming flow. It is found that viscoelastic fluids are prone to flow axially in the vicinity of the cylinder. The numerical predictions generally agree with the flow visualization results.The numerical solutions also demonstrate that elasticity has a strong effect on the velocity profile especially around both ends of the cylinder; elasticity increases the asymmetric profiles of both circumferential velocity and axial velocity with respect to equal to 90° and decreases a difference in the circumferential velocity between the windward end and the leeward end.For non-Newtonian fluids, the length of the wake flow is influenced by not only the Reynolds number but also the cylinder diameter and it is larger for the cylinder with the smaller diameter at the same Reynolds number.Partly presented at the 9th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, University of Auckland, New Zealand, 8–12 December, 1986     

Measurement of the shear viscosity using a newly developed GRLDA-viscometer

A two-point laser-Doppler anemometer is used to determine velocity gradients. Measuring additionally the pressure drop in channel flow allows one to use this instrument as a viscometer. This is demonstrated by measuring two polymer solutions as well as water. Besides the velocity gradient, the system also furnishes the velocity as well as velocity fluctuations. For surfactant solutions the sudden increase in these fluctuations go hand-in-hand with the sudden shear thickening reported. This behavior thus seems to be caused by a change in type of flow field (structural turbulence) rather than a change in the rheology of the surfactant solutions.This paper is dedicated to Professor Hanswalter Giesekus on the occasion of his retirement as Editor of Rheologica Acta.