The behaviour of macromolecules in the flow through a sudden planar contraction

Analytic steady-state results for FENE-P model macromolecules, in the nearly coiled-up and nearly stretched state respectively, in general two-dimensional flow fields are derived. These results are utilized in the flow through a sudden planar contraction. Special emphasis is devoted to the structure tensor R R, which furnishes, among other things, the mean square extension and the average orientation of the macromolecules.