Viscoelastic medium flows in convergent-divergent channels

The problem of viscoelastic fluid flow in a convergent-divergent channel is considered. A mathematical model and the results of numerical investigations are presented. A model of the differential type is used to describe the rheological properties of viscoelastic fluids. A comparative analysis of the flow parameters of generalized Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids in the channels considered is carried out on the basis of the results of numerical calculations.     

A low cost laser-speckle photographic technique for velocity measurement in slow flows

A low cost, low power laser-speckle photographic technique has been developed and is duscussed for the measurement of point velocities in slow laminar flows. The technique is particularly suitable for axisymmetric flows where the two velocity components can be easily measured. The accuracy of the technique is established by measurement of the velocity distribution for Poiseuille flow and from data obtained for acceleration of an inelastic Newtonian fluid through a four-to-one circular contraction. Preliminary results are also presented in the contracting flow field for a non shear-thinning highly elastic fluid. These data are particularly significant for verification of finite element numerical solutions currently being developed for viscoelastic fluids in circular entry flows.     

Kinematics and normal stress differences of a viscoelastic fluid undergoing wiggle flow

An experimental program was carried out to determine the laminar regime kinematics and normal stress differences of a viscoelastic fluid in wiggle flow employing non-contact measurement techniques. The viscoelastic fluid was a 5% by weight solution of polyisobutylene dissolved in Primol 355, a high purity mineral oil.The kinematics were determined by Laser-Doppler Anemometry and compared with the data obtained for a Newtonian fluid, Primol 355, under identical flow conditions. It was found that the normalized axial velocity versus axial position curves along the centerline for both fluids superimposed at very low flow rates, an experimental verification that a viscoelastic fluid behaves like a Newtonian fluid under very low shear rates. However, at higher flow rates the behaviour of the viscoelastic fluid curves changed appreciably whereas the Newtonian fluid curves did not change at all. Thus, the effect of flow rate on viscoelastic fluid behaviour was also experimentally established.The normal stress differences were determined using a stress-birefringence apparatus. Data obtained along the centerline clearly exhibited a delayed growth of stress which should be attributed to the expected memory effects in viscoelastic fluid flow.     

基于虚拟区域法的黏弹性流体中微生物游动的数值模拟和应用

微生物是自然生态系统的重要组成部分,掌握微生物在复杂流体中的运动特性可以为微型器件的设计制造提供理论指导.壁面效应是微生物游动研究中的重要问题之一,已有研究表明微生物在壁面附近存在复杂的行为特征.然而已有研究大多集中于微生物在牛顿流体中的游动模拟,仅有少数涉及黏弹性流体等非牛顿流体.本文采用直接力虚拟区域法与乔列斯基分解相结合的数值方法,引入Squirmer微生物游动模型,研究了微生物在黏弹性流体中的游动问题.首先给出求解黏弹性流体本构方程的数值格式;并将该方法应用于研究微生物游动中的壁面效应.研究结果表明,游动方向是影响微生物颗粒壁面效应的重要因素.流体弹性应力会对微生物产生一个反向转矩,影响微生物的游动方向,从而阻碍微生物逃离壁面.微生物颗粒在黏弹性流体中与壁面作用时间较长,几乎达到牛顿流体的两倍以上.     

Review of the entry flow problem: Experimental and numerical

This paper is concerned with a review of both experimental and numerical studies of axisymmetric and planar entry flows which have been considered as test problems for the numerical simulation of viscoelastic fluids. The test of the method is usually based upon whether the numerical model predicts vortices in the entry corners. However, it is not clear as to whether one should observe vortices for all viscoelastic fluids. Polyacrylamide solutions and Boger fluids exhibit vortices in axisymmetric flow and the size of the vortex does increase with fluid elasticity. However, the vortex is nearly suppressed in planar entry flow. On the other hand, not all polymer melts are found to exhibit vortices in either axisymmetric or planar entry flow. It is our belief that the origin of vortices is not related to the elasticity based on shear flow propertes but to the behavior of the transient extensional viscosity. Certain polymer melts such as low density polyethylene exhibit vortices in both planar and axisymmetric flow along with unbounded stress growth at the start up of extensional flow. It is believed that the constitutive equations used in the numerical simulation must reflect this extensional behavior if vortices are to be predicted. A review of the numerical simulations concerned with entry flow shows that there is considerable doubt about the accuracy of the predictions for most of the studies. Even for those where the numerical solution is thought to be accurate, the magnitude of the stream function associated with the vortices is usually very low. None of the differential models used to date predicts strain hardening extensional viscosity, but those which are thought to predict vortices do rise more rapidly to the steady-state extensional viscosity values with time. It is recommended that the search of test fluids be widened beyond polymer solutions as there may already exist a number of polymer melts which behave similarly to the predictions of existing constitutive equations.     

The end correction for power-law fluids in the capillary rheometer

The finite element scheme developed by Nickell, Tanner and Caswell is used to compute the entry and exit losses for creeping flow of power-law fluids in a capillary rheometer. The predicted entry losses for a Newtonian fluid agree well with available experimental and theoretical results. The entry losses for inelastic power-law fluids increased with decreasing flow behaviour index and show an increasing deviation from available upper bound results as the flow behaviour index in the power-law decreases.The exit losses are found to be finite for inelastic power-law fluids and increase as the flow behaviour index decreases. The predicted die swell for Newtonian fluids agrees well with the available experimental data while the influence of shear thinning is to reduce the die swell.The end correction which is the sum of the entry and exit losses relative to twice the viscometric wall shear stress varies from 0.834 for n = 1 to 2.917 for n = 1/6. This figure reaches a very high value as n tends to zero. The experimental variation in the Couette correction factor in capillary rheometry is explained in terms of the shear thinning characteristics of the fluid. It is concluded that the exit flow is not viscometric, contrary to a common assumption.     

Viscoelastic effects in double‐pipe single‐pass counterflow heat exchangers

The conducto‐convective heat loss from a viscoelastic liquid, in the core of a double‐pipe heat exchanger arrangement, to a cooler Newtonian fluid flowing in the outer annulus is investigated with direct numerical simulations. A numerical algorithm based on the finite difference method is implemented in time and space with the Giesekus constitutive model for the viscoelastic liquids. The flow of both the annulus and core‐fluids is considered to be Poiseuille flow, driven by respective pressure gradients. In general, the results show that a viscoelastic core‐fluid leads to slightly lower (albeit comparable) attainable temperatures in the core‐fluid stream as compared with a corresponding Newtonian fluid. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Front‐tracking by the level‐set and the volume penalization methods in a two‐phase microfluidic network

Two‐phase immiscible fluids in a two‐dimensional micro‐channels network are considered. The incompressible Stokes equations are used to describe the Newtonian fluid flow, while the Oldroyd‐B rheological model is used to capture the viscoelastic behavior. In order to perform numerical simulations in a complex geometry like a micro‐channels network, the volume penalization method is implemented. To follow the interface between the two fluids, the level‐set method is used, and the dynamics of the contact line is modeled by Cox law. Numerical results show the ability of the method to simulate two‐phase flows and to follow properly the contact line between the two immiscible fluids. Finally, simulations with realistic parameters are performed to show the difference when a Newtonian fluid is pushed by a viscoelastic fluid instead of a Newtonian one. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

粘弹性流体的入口收敛流动

本文以聚合物流体为研究对象,对其在入口收敛流动中产生的粘弹效应及机理进行了初步的讨论和分析,并就近10年来国内外有关粘弹性流体入口流动研究及进展作了简要的评述。      

Extrudate swell in some dilute elastic solutions

An experimental programme has been carried out to obtain data for the isothermal swelling of dilute viscoelastic fluids based on the polyisobutylene-polybutene system. The fluid was thus a constant viscosity one and so the observed swell was predominantly due to elastic effects alone. To establish the experimental rig and procedure, preliminary results for the creeping flow of a Newtonian fluid, based on a polybutene, were acquired. The Newtonian results, showing a creeping flow swell of 13.8%, demonstrated that the rig and procedure were satisfactory for the formation of free, isothermal jets. The viscoelastic results were quite unexpected, showing that dilute elastic solutions can exhibit significant swelling despite the fact that the recoverable shear is small (S _R < 0.1). These results qualitatively confirm a recent numerical study [1].     

An incompressible SPH method for simulation of unsteady viscoelastic free-surface flows

In this paper, an incompressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is presented to solve unsteady free-surface flows. Both Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids are considered. In the case of viscoelastic fluids, both the Maxwell and Oldroyd-B models are investigated. The proposed SPH method uses a Poisson pressure equation to satisfy the incompressibility constraints. The solution algorithm is an explicit predictor-corrector scheme and employs an adaptive smoothing length based on density variations. To alleviate the numerical difficulties encountered when fluid is highly stretched, an artificial stress term is incorporated into the momentum equation which reduces the risk of unrealistic fractures in the material. Two challenging test cases, the impacting drop and the jet buckling problems, are solved to demonstrate the capability of the proposed scheme in handling viscoelastic flows with complex free surfaces. The jet buckling test case was solved for a wide range of Weissenberg numbers. It was shown that in all cases the method is stable and fairly accurate and agrees well with the available data.     

Velocity field of convergent flow into a rectangular slit for a polymeric fluid

Three-dimensional velocity distributions in the entry region of a rectangular slit contraction were investigated using a dual-beam laser Doppler velocimeter. The flow of a silicone oil (a Newtonian fluid) and a solution of silicone rubber in the same silicone oil (a viscoelastic fluid) was studied at low Reynolds numbers (Re < 0.5). In contrast to the usual velocity distribution of a Newtonian fluid, the viscoelastic fluid showed the following characteristic features: (1) a pronounced axial velocity overshoot immediately after the slit entrance and a maximum before the slit exit; (2) appearance of an axial flow deceleration region just before the sharp acceleration near the slit entrance. Even more remarkably, a saddle form of velocity profile was found in the entrance region. This flow pattern is completely different from that found for Newtonian fluids and has not yet been explained using existing rheological analysis.Parts of this paper were presented at the IX. Intern. Congress on Rheology at Acapulco (Mexico), October 8–13, 1984     

Laminar,transitional and turbulent annular flow of drag-reducing polymer solutions

Mean and rms axial velocity-profile data obtained using laser Doppler anemometry are presented together with pressure-drop data for the flow through a concentric annulus (radius ratio κ = 0.506) of a Newtonian (a glycerine–water mixture) and non-Newtonian fluids—a semi-rigid shear-thinning polymer (a xanthan gum) and a polymer known to exhibit a yield stress (carbopol). A wider range of Reynolds numbers for the transitional flow regime is observed for the more shear-thinning fluids. In marked contrast to the Newtonian fluid, the higher shear stress on the inner wall compared to the outer wall does not lead to earlier transition for the non-Newtonian fluids where more turbulent activity is observed in the outer wall region. The mean axial velocity profiles show a slight shift (～5%) of the location of the maximum velocity towards the outer pipe wall within the transitional regime only for the Newtonian fluid.     

Thermal instability of a viscoelastic fluid in a fluid-porous system with a plane Poiseuille flow

The thermal convection of a Jeffreys fluid subjected to a plane Poiseuille flow in a fluid-porous system composed of a fluid layer and a porous layer is studied in the paper. A linear stability analysis and a Chebyshev τ-QZ algorithm are employed to solve the thermal mixed convection. Unlike the case in a single layer, the neutral curves of the two-layer system may be bi-modal in the proper depth ratio of the two layers. We find that the longitudinal rolls(LRs) only depend on the depth ratio. Wi...     

Effect of viscoelasticity on the rotation of a sphere in shear flow

When particles are dispersed in viscoelastic rather than Newtonian media, the hydrodynamics will be changed entailing differences in suspension rheology. The disturbance velocity profiles and stress distributions around the particle will depend on the viscoelastic material functions. Even in inertialess flows, changes in particle rotation and migration will occur. The problem of the rotation of a single spherical particle in simple shear flow in viscoelastic fluids was recently studied to understand the effects of changes in the rheological properties with both numerical simulations [D’Avino et al., J. Rheol. 52 (2008) 1331–1346] and experiments [Snijkers et al., J. Rheol. 53 (2009) 459–480]. In the simulations, different constitutive models were used to demonstrate the effects of different rheological behavior. In the experiments, fluids with different constitutive properties were chosen. In both studies a slowing down of the rotation speed of the particles was found, when compared to the Newtonian case, as elasticity increases. Surprisingly, the extent of the slowing down of the rotation rate did not depend strongly on the details of the fluid rheology, but primarily on the Weissenberg number defined as the ratio between the first normal stress difference and the shear stress.In the present work, a quantitative comparison between the experimental measurements and novel simulation results is made by considering more realistic constitutive equations as compared to the model fluids used in previous numerical simulations [D’Avino et al., J. Rheol. 52 (2008) 1331–1346]. A multimode Giesekus model with Newtonian solvent as constitutive equation is fitted to the experimentally obtained linear and nonlinear fluid properties and used to simulate the rotation of a torque-free sphere in a range of Weissenberg numbers similar to those in the experiments. A good agreement between the experimental and numerical results is obtained. The local torque and pressure distributions on the particle surface calculated by simulations are shown.     

Characteristic turbulent structure of a modified drag-reduced surfactant solution flow via dosing water from channel wall

The modification of the near-wall structure is very important for the control of wall turbulence. To ascertain the effect of near-wall modulation on the viscoelastic drag-reduced flow, the modified characteristics of a surfactant solution channel flow were investigated experimentally. The modulation was conducted on the boundary of the channel flow by injecting water from the whole surface of one side of the channel wall. The diffusion process of the injected water was observed by using the planar laser-induced fluorescence technique. The velocity statistics and characteristic structure including the spatial distributions of instantaneous streamwise velocity, swirling strength, and Reynolds shear stress were analyzed based on the velocity vectors acquired in the streamwise wall-normal plane by using the particle imaging velocimetry technique. The results indicated that the disturbance of the injected water was constricted within a finite range very near the dosing wall, and the Reynolds shear stress was increased in this region. However, the eventual drag reduction rate was found to be increased due to a relatively large decrement of viscoelastic shear stress in this near-wall region. Moreover, the flow structure under this modulation presented obvious regional characteristics. In the unstable disturbed region, the mixing of high-speed and low-speed fluids and the motions of ejection and sweep occurred actively. Many clockwise vortex cores were also found to be generated. This characteristic structure was similar to that in the ordinary turbulence of Newtonian fluid. Nevertheless, outside this disturbed region, the structure still maintained the characteristics of the drag-reduced flow with non-Newtonian viscoelastic additives. These results proved that the injected Newtonian fluid associated with the modified stress distribution creates a diverse characteristic structure and subsequent enhanced drag reduction. This investigation can provide the experimental basis for further study of turbulence control.     

Creation of very-low-Reynolds-number chaotic fluid motions in microchannels using viscoelastic surfactant solution

Solutions of flexible high-molecular-weight polymers or some kinds of surfactant are viscoelastic fluids. The elastic stress is induced in such viscoelastic fluid flows and grows nonlinearly with the flow-rate resulting in many particular flow phenomena, including purely elastic instability. The purely elastic instability can even result in a kind of chaotic fluid motion, the so-called elastic turbulence, which is a recently discovered flow phenomenon and arises at arbitrarily small Reynolds number. By using viscoelastic surfactant solution, we attempted to create the peculiar chaotic fluid motions in several specially designed microchannels in which flows with curvilinear streamlines can be generated. The viscoelastic working fluids were aqueous solutions of surfactant, CTAC/NaSal (cetyltrimethyl ammonium chloride/sodium salicylate). CTAC solutions with weight concentration of 200 ppm (part per million) and 1000 ppm, respectively, at room temperature were tested. For comparison, water flows in the same microchannels were also visualized. The Reynolds numbers for all the microchannel flows were quite small (for solution flows, the Reynolds numbers were the order of or smaller than one) and the flow should be definitely laminar for Newtonian fluid. It was found that the regular laminar flow patterns for low-Reynolds-number Newtonian fluid flow in different microchannels were strongly deformed in solution flows: either asymmetrical flow structures or time-dependent vortical fluid motions appeared. These chaotic flow phenomena were considered to be induced by the viscoelasticity of the CTAC solutions. Discussions about the potential applications using such kind of chaotic fluid motions were also made.     

The influence of the upper wall on the die entry flow of viscoelastic fluids

The influence of the upper wall on the die entry flow of viscoeleastic fluids was investigated experimentally. Aqueous solutions of Separan AP-30 were pushed out by a compressed gas pressure through a capillary attached to the bottom of a reservoir having a height-adjustable upper wall. The driving gas pressure, the flow rate and the pressure at the center of the upper wall were measured and the flow patterns in the entry region above the inlet section of the capillary were observed. Flow rate measurements under the condition of constant driving pressure reveal that the maximum height of the upper wall required to reduce the flow rate is much larger for viscoelastic fluids than for Newtonians, and that this effect of the upper wall becomes more conspicuous with increasing driving pressure. What is curious is that under some conditions the flow rate is larger for a moderate upper wall height than for an infinite. These phenomena are shown to be attributed to the increasing and the reducing effects of the entry pressure loss by the upper wall. The latter effect may be called a new type of pressure-loss reduction phenomenon of viscoelastic fluids. The observation of the flow and the measurement of the pressure at the upper wall center show that typical flow patterns of the die entry flow of viscoelastic fluids are responsible for the far greater pressure loss than for Newtonians, and that the entry pressure loss for a spiralling flow is a little smaller than for the other two types even at an equal driving pressure.     

Transient deformation of an inviscid inclusion in a viscoelastic extensional flow

The transient deformation of a bubble in a viscoelastic extentional flow is analyzed by means of a finite element algorithm for viscoelastic moving boundary problems. Using the Oldroyd-B constitutive model, we find that bubbles in a viscoelastic fluid deform to the same steady-state configurations as bubbles in a Newtonian fluid at equal values of the far-field extensional stresses (corresponding to different stretch rates). Vapor bubbles in a developed extensional flow collapse more readily in the viscoelastic liquid than bubbles in Newtonian fluids because of the large compressive stresses associated with the viscoelastic liquid.