Two-dimensional viscoelastic flows: experimentation and modeling

Extensive experimental data on the birefringence in converging and diverging flows of a polymeric melt have been obtained. The birefringence and pressure drop measurements were carried out in working cells of planar geometry having different contraction angles and contraction ratios. For investigation of diverging or abrupt expansion flow, the direction of flow in the cells was reversed. The theoretical predictions are based upon the Leonov constitutive equation and a finite element scheme with streamwise integration.In contrast to Newtonian and second-order fluids, viscoelastic fluids at high shear rates show significant differences in pressure drop and birefringence (i.e. stresses) in converging and diverging flows. For a constant flow rate, the pressure drop is higher and the birefringence smaller in diverging flows than in converging flows. This difference increases with increasing flow rate. Further, for the same contraction ratio but different contraction angles, the birefringence maximum increases considerably with contraction angle. In addition, an increase in contraction ratio has the same effect.The viscoelastic constitutive equation of Leonov has been shown to describe all the above viscoelastic effects observed in the experiments. In general, a reasonable agreement between theory and experiment has been obtained, which shows the usefulness of the Leonov model in describing actual flows.