Finite element calculation of viscoelastic flow in a journal bearing: II. Moderate eccentricity

Finite element calculations of two-dimensional flows of viscoelastic fluids in a journal bearing geometry reported in an earlier paper (J. Non-Newt. Fluid Mech. 16 (1984) 141-172) are extended to higher eccentricity (ρ = 0.4); at this higher eccentricity flow separation occurs in the wide part of the gap for a Newtonian fluid. Calculations for the second-order fluid (SOF), upper-convected Maxwell (UCM), and the Giesekus models are continued in increasing Deborah number for each model until either a limit point is reached or oscillations in the solution make the numerical accuracy too poor to warrant proceeding. No steady solutions to the UCM model were found beyond a limit point De_c, as was the case for results at low eccentricities. The value of De_c was moderately stabel to mesh refinement. A limit point also terminated the calculations with a SOF model, in contradiction to the theorems for uniqueness and existence for this model. The critical value of De increased drastically with increasing refinement of the mesh, as expected for solution pathology caused by approximation error. Calculations for the Giesekus fluid with the mobility parameter α ≠ O showed no limit points, but failed when irregular oscillations destroyed the quality of the solution. The behavior of the recirculation region of the flow and the load on the inner cylinder were very sensitive to the value of α used in the Giesekus model. The recirculation disappeared at low values of De except when the mobility parameter α was so small that the viscosity was almost constant over the range of shear rates in the calculations. The recirculation persisted over the entire range of accessible De for the UCM fluid, the limit of α = O of the Giesekus model. The behavior of the recirculation is coupled directly to the viscosity by calculations with an inelastic fluid with the same viscosity predicted by the Giesekus model.     

Stagnation-point flow of upper-convected Maxwell fluids

Two-dimensional stagnation-point flow of viscoelastic fluids is studied theoretically assuming that the fluid obeys the upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) model. Boundary-layer theory is used to simplify the equations of motion which are further reduced to a single non-linear third-order ODE using the concept of stream function coupled with the technique of the similarity solution. The equation so obtained was solved using Chebyshev pseudo-spectral collocation-point method. Based on the results obtained in the present work, it is concluded that the well-established but controversial prediction that in stagnation-point flows of viscoelastic fluids the velocity inside the boundary layer may exceed that outside the layer may just be an artifact of the rheological model used in previous studies (namely, the second-grade model). No such peculiarity is predicted to exist for the Maxwell model. For a UCM fluid, a thickening of the boundary layer and a drop in wall skin friction coefficient is predicted to occur the higher the elasticity number. These predictions are in direct contradiction with those reported in the literature for a second-grade fluid.     

MHD flow of upper-convected Maxwell fluid over porous stretching sheet using successive Taylor series linearization method

This paper investigates the magnetohydrodynamic(MHD) boundary layer flow of an incompressible upper-convected Maxwell(UCM) fluid over a porous stretching surface.Similarity transformations are used to reduce the governing partial differential equations into a kind of nonlinear ordinary differential equations.The nonlinear problem is solved by using the successive Taylor series linearization method(STSLM).The computations for velocity components are carried out for the emerging parameters.The numerical values of the skin friction coefficient are presented and analyzed for various parameters of interest in the problem.     

MHD flow and heat transfer for the upper-convected Maxwell fluid over a stretching sheet

In the present work, the effect of MHD flow and heat transfer within a boundary layer flow on an upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid over a stretching sheet is examined. The governing boundary layer equations of motion and heat transfer are non-dimensionalized using suitable similarity variables and the resulting transformed, ordinary differential equations are then solved numerically by shooting technique with fourth order Runge–Kutta method. For a UCM fluid, a thinning of the boundary layer and a drop in wall skin friction coefficient is predicted to occur for higher the elastic number. The objective of the present work is to investigate the effect of Maxwell parameter β, magnetic parameter Mn and Prandtl number Pr on the temperature field above the sheet.     

Steady mixed convection stagnation-point flow of upper convected Maxwell fluids with magnetic field

The steady MHD mixed convection flow of a viscoelastic fluid in the vicinity of two-dimensional stagnation point with magnetic field has been investigated under the assumption that the fluid obeys the upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) model. Boundary layer theory is used to simplify the equations of motion, induced magnetic field and energy which results in three coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations which are well-posed. These equations have been solved by using finite difference method. The results indicate the reduction in the surface velocity gradient, surface heat transfer and displacement thickness with the increase in the elasticity number. These trends are opposite to those reported in the literature for a second-grade fluid. The surface velocity gradient and heat transfer are enhanced by the magnetic and buoyancy parameters. The surface heat transfer increases with the Prandtl number, but the surface velocity gradient decreases.     

Purely elastic instabilities in three-dimensional cross-slot geometries

Creeping and low Reynolds number flows of an upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid are investigated numerically in a three-dimensional orthogonal cross-slot geometry. We analyze two different flow configurations corresponding to uniaxial extension and biaxial extension, and assess the effects of extensional flow type, Deborah and Reynolds numbers on flow dynamics near the interior stagnation point. Using these two flow arrangements the amount of stretch and compression near the stagnation point can be varied, providing further insights on the viscoelastic flow instability mechanisms in extensionally dominated flows with an interior stagnation point. The uniaxial extensional flow arrangement leads to the onset of a steady flow asymmetry, followed by a second purely elastic flow instability that generates an unsteady flow at higher flow rates. On the other hand, for the biaxial extension flow configuration a symmetric flow is observed up to the critical Deborah number when the time-dependent purely elastic instability sets in, without going through the steady symmetric to steady asymmetric transition.     

Sakiadis flow of an upper-convected Maxwell fluid

The flow of an upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid is studied theoretically above a rigid plate moving steadily in an otherwise quiescent fluid. It is assumed that the Reynolds number of the flow is high enough for boundary layer approximation to be valid. Assuming a laminar, two-dimensional flow above the plate, the concept of stream function coupled with the concept of similarity solution is utilized to reduce the governing equations into a single third-order ODE. It is concluded that the fluid's elasticity destroys similarity between velocity profiles; thus an attempt was made to find local similarity solutions. Three different methods will be used to solve the governing equation: (i) the perturbation method, (ii) the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method, and (iii) the finite-difference method. The velocity profiles obtained using the latter two methods are shown to be virtually the same at corresponding Deborah number. The velocity profiles obtained using perturbation method, in addition to being different from those of the other two methods, are dubious in that they imply some degree of reverse flow. The wall skin friction coefficient is predicted to decrease with an increase in the Deborah number for Sakiadis flow of a UCM fluid. This prediction is in direct contradiction with that reported in the literature for a second-grade fluid.     

Velocity overshoots in gradual contraction flows

This study reports the results of a systematic numerical investigation, using the upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) and Phan-Thien–Tanner (PTT) models, of viscoelastic fluid flow through three-dimensional gradual planar contractions of various contraction ratios with the aim of investigating experimental observations of extremely large near-wall velocity overshoots in similar geometries [R.J. Poole, M.P. Escudier, P.J. Oliveira, Laminar flow of a viscoelastic shear-thinning liquid through a plane sudden expansion preceded by a gradual contraction, Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. Ser. A 461 (2005) 3827]. We are able to obtain good qualitative agreement with the experiments, even using the UCM model in creeping-flow conditions, showing that neither inertia, second normal-stress difference nor shear-thinning effects are required for the phenomenon to be observed. Guided by the numerical results we propose a simple explanation for the occurrence of the velocity overshoots and the conditions under which they arise.     

A numerical study for three-dimensional viscoelastic flow inspired by non-linear radiative heat flux

Present article examines the three-dimensional flow of upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid over a radiative bi-directional stretching surface. Novel non-linear Rosseland formula for thermal radiation is utilized in the formulation of energy equation. The conventional transformations lead to a strongly non-linear differential system which is treated numerically through Runge–Kutta integration procedure together with the shooting approach. We found that heat transfer rate from the sheet has inverse as well as non-linear relationship with wall to ambient temperature ratio. Moreover an increase in viscoelastic fluid parameter (Deborah number) corresponds to a decrease in the fluid velocity and the boundary layer thickness.     

Stress boundary layers in the viscoelastic flow past a cylinder in a channel： limiting solutions

The flow past a cylinder in a channel with the aspect ratio of 2:1 for the upper convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid and the Oldroyd-B fluid with the viscosity ratio of 0.59 is studied by using the Galerkin/Least-square finite element method and a p-adaptive refinement algorithm. A posteriori error estimation indicates that the stress-gradient error dominates the total error. As the Deborah number, D_e, approaches 0.8 for the UCM fluid and 0.9 for the Oldroyd-B fluid, strong stress boundary layers near the rear stagnation point are forming, which are characterized by jumps of the stress-profiles on the cylinder wall and plane of symmetry, huge stress gradients and rapid decay of the gradients across narrow thicknesses. The origin of the huge stress-gradients can be traced to the purely elongational flow behind the rear stagnation point, where the position at which the elongation rate is of 1/2D_e approaches the rear stagnation point as the Deborah number approaches the critical values. These observations imply that the cylinder problem for the UCM and Oldroyd-B fluids may have physical limiting Deborah numbers of 0.8 and 0.9, respectively.The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (50335010 and 20274041) and the MOLDFLOW Comp. Australia.     

Suppression or enhancement of interfacial instability in two-layer plane Couette flow of FENE-P fluids past a deformable solid layer

The linear stability of two-layer plane Couette flow of FENE-P fluids past a deformable solid layer is analyzed in order to examine the effect of solid deformability on the interfacial instability due to elasticity and viscosity stratification at the two-fluid interface. The solid layer is modeled using both linear viscoelastic and neo-Hookean constitutive equations. The limiting case of two-layer flow of upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) fluids is used as a starting point, and results for the FENE-P case are obtained by numerically continuing the UCM results for the interfacial mode to finite values of the chain extensibility parameter. For the case of two-layer plane Couette flow past a rigid solid surface, our results show that the finite extensibility of the polymer chain significantly alters the neutral stability boundaries of the interfacial instability. In particular, the two-layer Couette flow of FENE-P fluids is found to be unstable in a larger range of nondimensional parameters when compared to two-layer flow of UCM fluids. The presence of the deformable solid layer is shown to completely suppress the interfacial instability in most of the parameter regimes where the interfacial mode is unstable, while it could have a completely destabilizing effect in other parameter regimes even when the interfacial mode is stable in rigid channels. When compared with two-layer UCM flow, the two-layer FENE-P case is found in general to require solid layers with relatively lower shear modulii in order to suppress the interfacial instability. The results from the linear elastic solid model are compared with those obtained using the (more rigorous) neo-Hookean model for the solid, and good agreement is found between the two models for neutral stability curves pertaining to the two-fluid interfacial mode. The present study thus provides an important extension of the earlier analysis of two-layer UCM flow [V. Shankar, Stability of two-layer viscoelastic plane Couette flow past a deformable solid layer: implications of fluid viscosity stratification, J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 125 (2005) 143–158] to more accurate constitutive models for the fluid and solid layers, and reaffirms the central conclusion of instability suppression in two-layer flows of viscoelastic fluids by soft elastomeric coatings in more realistic settings.     

Injection and suction of an upper-convected maxwell fluid through a porous-walled tube

The steady-state, similarity solutions of the flow of an upper-convected Maxwell fluid through a tube with a porous wall are constructed by asymptotic and numerical analyses as functions of the direction of flow through the tube, the amount of elasticity in the fluid, as measured by the Deborah number De, and the degree of fluid slip along the tube wall. Fluid slip is assumed to be proportional to the local shear stress and is measured by a slip parameter β that ranges between no-slip (β = 1) and perfect slip (β = 0). The most interesting results are for fluid injection into the tube. For β = 1, the family of flows emanating from the Newtonian limit (De = 0) has a limit point where it turns back to lower values of De. These solutions become asymptotic to De = 0) and develop an O(De) boundary layer near the tube wall with singularly high stresses matched to homogeneous elongational flow in the core. This solution structure persists for all nonzero values of the slip parameter. For β ≠ 1, a family of exact solutions is found with extensional kinematics, but nonzero shear stress convected into the tube through the wall. These flows differ for low De from the Newtonian asymptote only by the absence of the boundary layer at the tube wall. Finite difference calculations evolve smoothly between the Newtonian-like and extensional solutions because of approximation error due to under-resolution of the boundary layer. The radial gradient of the axial normal stress of the extensional flow is infinite at the centerline of the tube for De > 1; this singularity causes failure of the finite difference approximations for these Deborah numbers unless the variables are rescaled to take the asymptotic behavior into account.     

Re-entrant corner behavior of the PTT fluid

We integrate the constitutive equation of the Phan-Thien-Tanner (PTT) fluid near a re-entrant 270° corner. The velocity field is assumed given (Newtonian). In contrast to the case of the upper convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid, we find the following features: (1) The elastic stresses near the corner are less singular than Newtonian stresses; (2) Boundary layers near the walls are much less sharp than for the UCM fluid; (3) There are no spurious stresses due to downstream instabilities.     

MHD flow and heat transfer of a UCM fluid over a stretching surface with variable thermophysical properties

In this paper we investigate the effects of temperature-dependent viscosity, thermal conductivity and internal heat generation/absorption on the MHD flow and heat transfer of a non-Newtonian UCM fluid over a stretching sheet. The governing partial differential equations are first transformed into coupled non-linear ordinary differential equation using a similarity transformation. The resulting intricate coupled non-linear boundary value problem is solved numerically by a second order finite difference scheme known as Keller-Box method for various values of the pertinent parameters. Numerical computations are performed for two different cases namely, zero and non-zero values of the fluid viscosity parameter. That is, 1/?? _r ??0 and 1/?? _r ??0 to get the effects of the magnetic field and the Maxwell parameter on the velocity and temperature fields, for several physical situations. Comparisons with previously published works are presented as special cases. Numerical results for the skin-friction co-efficient and the Nusselt number with changes in the Maxwell parameter and the fluid viscosity parameter are tabulated for different values of the pertinent parameters. The results obtained for the flow characteristics reveal many interesting behaviors that warrant further study on the non-Newtonian fluid phenomena, especially the UCM fluid phenomena. Maxwell fluid reduces the wall-shear stress.     

Constitutive equation with fractional derivatives for the generalized UCM model

A fundamental problem on the constitutive equation with fractional derivatives for the generalized upper convected Maxwell model (UCM) is studied. The existing investigations on the constitutive equation are reviewed and their limitations or deficiencies are highlighted. By utilizing the convected coordinates approach, a mathematically rigorous constitutive equation with fractional derivatives for the generalized UCM model is proposed, which has an explicit expression for the stress tensor. This model can be reduced to the linear generalized Maxwell model with fractional derivatives, the UCM model and some other existing models. In addition, the rheological properties of this proposed model in the start-up of simple shear and elongation flows are investigated. It is shown that this generalized UCM model can describe the various stress evolution processes and the strain hardening effect of the viscoelastic fluids.     

Equibiaxial extensional flow of polymer melts via lubricated squeezing flow. II. Flow modeling

A model for lubricated squeezing flow of a viscoelastic fluid is developed in order to study the viability of this flow as a rheological technique for generating equibiaxial extensional deformations in polymer melts. In this simple flow model, the melt, described by an upper-convected Maxwell fluid, is squeezed between thin films of a Newtonian fluid. Comparisons of the model predictions for constant strain rate and constant stress flows are made with experimental results presented in the first paper. Predictions from the model are able to describe the effects of lubricant viscosity and experimental configuration and indicate the technique fails for these flows at Hencky strains of approximately one. The cause for this failure is lubricant thinning, which leads to significant errors in both the measured stress difference and the strain. Received: 31 January 2000 Accepted: 31 May 2000     

Do general viscoelastic stresses for the flow of an upper convected Maxwell fluid satisfy the momentum equation?

Given a general velocity field consistent with the stagnation point flow, can the viscoelastic stresses arising in the flow of an upper convected Maxwell fluid found by solving the constitutive equation also satisfy the momentum equation? Consideration is given to the study of the stress tensor arising in the steady flow of an upper convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid with a velocity field consistent with the stagnation point flow. By the method of characteristics, exact solutions to the partial differential equations arising in the approximating model of the viscoelastic stresses in the flow of an upper convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid are obtained for the three components of the stress tensor, for reasonably general velocity fields. We are able to account for the effects of variable boundary data at the inflow by considering the viscoelastic stresses over two spatial variables. Furthermore, we assume a relatively general velocity field. As a special case, some results present in the recent literature are obtained; it is known that these special case solutions do not satisfy the momentum equation. In the general case we consider, we find that the general solution will not satisfy the momentum equation except in a limited restricted case. We discuss how this shortcoming might be rectified by use of a more general velocity field.     

Compliance effects on the torsional flow of a viscoelastic fluid

The effects of transducer compliance on transient stress measurements in torsional flows of a viscoelastic fluid are investigated theoretically. The analysis is based on the torsional flow of an upper-convected Maxwell fluid between a rotating and ‘stationary’ disk, which is allowed to twist and displace axially as a result of the stresses exerted on the disk by the fluid. An approximate analytical solution to the governing equations is obtained using a standard perturbation method. Results of the analysis are used to examine how the fluid velocity is altered by the motion of the stationary disk and to gain insight on how transient stress measurements are affected by transducer compliance. The analysis shows that compliance effects increase with applied shear rate and that the effects of torsional and axial compliance are coupled in measurements of the shear stress and first normal stress difference.     

A domain perturbation study of steady flow in a cone-and-plate rheometer of non-ideal geometry

The method of domain perturbation developed by Joseph is used to calculate velocity and stress profiles in a slightly misaligned cone-and-plate rheometer where the cone is spinning and the plate is stationary. Results for a Newtonian fluid, a Criminale-Ericksen-Filbey fluid, an upper-convected Maxwell fluid, and a White-Metzner fluid are presented and compared with earlier results in which the cone is stationary and the plate is spinning (Dudgeon and Wedgewood, 1993). Streamlines calculated for the Newtonian fluid show a very small recirculation region near the stationary plate. Velocity and stress contours are symmetric around the plane of largest gap width. For the elastic fluids studied, streamlines are asymmetric. The fluid response lags where the fluid is dominated by memory effects. Much larger recirculation regions are calculated for fluids dominated by shear thinning. These recirculation regions contain a large fraction of the fluid in the apparatus and have the effect of changing the shape of the flow domain for the remaining fluid that rotates around the cone's axis. Elasticity also has a pronounced effect on the stress profile, indicating that the accuracy of the cone and plate may be compromised even for small mis-alignments.