Instability of plane Couette flow of viscoelastic liquids

A review of our work on the stability of plane Couette flow of a viscoelastic liquid is given. The first part of the review is based on the assumption of a “short memory” of the fluid. The Reynolds-Orr energy criterion intimates the possibility of instability at very low Reynolds numbers. A linear stability analysis for disturbances in the flow plane shows that beyond the stability limit given by the energy criterion there are always disturbances which grow with time. A critical assessment of the short memory theory shows the severe limitations of its applicability.In the second part of the paper, the assumption of short memory is dropped. The stability of plane Couette flow with respect to special disturbances perpendicular to the flow plane is investigated for a Maxwell fluid. The flow is unstable if the product of Reynolds number and Weissenberg number is higher than a certain limit, which has the value one for a simple Maxwell fluid. This result can also be interpreted as follows: The flow becomes unstable if the velocity at the boundary walls is higher than the shear wave velocity of the fluid.     

Spherical Couette flow of a viscoelastic fluid Part I: Experimental study of the inner sphere rotation

Flow of viscoelastic fluid contained between a stationary outer sphere and a rotating inner sphere is studied experimentally. In the present investigation, relatively low-concentration polyacrylamide-water solutions are used as viscoelastic fluid, and for the sake of comparison glycerin-water solutions are used as the Newtonian fluid. In experiments, measurements of the rotational torque and the velocity profile in the meridional plane of the spherical gap are made. Various transition phenomena of flow modes that are unique to viscoelastic fluids are investigated by flow visualization for a wide range of rotational Reynolds numbers. Experimental results revealed that a roll-cell-like structure (banded radial structure) caused by elastic instability is generated in the polar region, and that it propagates toward the equatorial region when rotation of the inner sphere is increased, resulting in the formation of two distinct regions: the elastic dominant region and the inertial dominant region. Flow modes are classified and the critical Reynolds numbers are obtained for different gap widths. A correlation is obtained for the torque data in the regime before the onset of instability.     

Stability of Couette flow of liquids with power law viscosity

The stability of the Couette flow of the liquid with the power law viscosity in a wide annular gap has been investigated theoretically in this work with the aid of the method of small disturbances. The Taylor number, being a criterion of the stability, has been defined using the mean apparent viscosity value in the main flow. In the whole range of the radius ratio, R _i /R _o and the flow index, n, considered (R _i /R _o 0.5, n = 0.25–1.75 ), the critical value of the Taylor number Ta _c is an increasing function of the flow index, i.e., shear thinning has destabilizing influence on the rotational flow, and dilatancy exhibits an opposite tendency.In the wide ranges of the flow index, n > 0.5, and the radius ratio, R _i /R _o > 0.5, the wide-gap effect on the stability limit is predicted to be almost the same for non-Newtonian fluids as for Newtonian ones. The ratio on the critical Taylor numbers for non-Newtonian and Newtonian fluids: Ta _c (n) and Ta _c (n = 1) obey a generalized functional dependence: Ta _c (n)/Ta _c (n = 1) = g(n), where g(n) is a function corresponding to the solution for the narrow gap approximation.Theoretical predictions have been compared with experimental results for pseudoplastic liquids. In the range of the radius ratio R _i /R _o > 0.6 the theoretical stability limit is in good agreement with the experiments, however, for R _i /R _o < 0.6, the critical Taylor number is considerably lower than predicted by theory.     

Response of viscoelastic fluids in extensional flow generated by a pulsating sphere

A simple analysis of the periodic extensional flow generated by a pulsating sphere in an infinite sea of viscoelastic fluid has been carried out. The general procedure is illustrated by two specific constitutive equations: the corotational Jeffreys fluid and the Oldroyd fluid model B. The response of these fluids is reflected in the temporal variation of the pressure on the surface of the sphere, with Reynolds and Deborah numbers and parameters of the constitutive equations as independent variables. For the case of pulsation with infinitesimal amplitude the fluid response is summarised in the form of pressure amplitude and phase lag versus Deborah number plots. The role of the pulsating flow in the characterisation of viscoelastic fluids and the extension of the procedure to other constitutive equations are briefly discussed.     

Elongational flow behavior of viscoelastic liquids: Modelling bubble dynamics with viscoelastic constitutive relations

Summary Earlier parts of this series have described a technique based on the collapse of single bubbles in the fluids for studying the elongational rheology of viscoelastic solutions and melts of moderate viscosities ( ₀ > 10²p) at relatively high strain rates . The present paper describes the modelling of bubble collapse with both rate and integral type constitutive relations using a body coordinate system. Predictions of the stress at the bubble wall as a function of time during collapse from a BKZ model and a modified corotational Maxwell model compared favorably with experimental data for two polymer solutions, 1% polyacrylamide in water/glycerine and 2% hydroxypropyl cellulose in water.

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Zusammenfassung In vorangehenden Veröffentlichungen dieser Reihe wurde eine Methode beschrieben, mit Hilfe derer man aus dem Zerfall von einzelnen Blasen in einer Flüssigkeit auf die Dehn-Rheologie viskoelastischer Lösungen und Schmelzen mittlerer Viskosität ( ₀ > 10² P) bei relativ hohen Dehngeschwindigkeiten schließen kann. Die vorliegende Untersuchung beschreibt Modelle des Blasenzerfalls mit Hilfe von Stoffgleichungen sowohl vom rate- als auch vom Integral-Typ, wobei ein körperfestes Koordinatensystem benutzt wird. Die Voraussagen der Spannung an der Blasenwand als Funktion der Zeit während des Zerfalls bei Verwendung eines BKZ- und eines modifizierten korotatorischen Maxwell-Modells zeigen eine recht gute Übereinstimmung mit experimentellen Werten, die an zwei Polymerlösungen, nämlich einer 1%igen Polyacrylamid-Lösung in einer Wasser-Glycerin-Mischung und einer 2%igen wäßrigen Hydropropylcellulose, erhalten worden sind.

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Nomenclature a material constant - b material constant - g metric tensor, space coordinates - m material constant - n material constant - p pressure - P _G pressure within bubble - P _R pressure outside bubble at the wall - P pressure far away from the bubble - R bubble radius - dR/dt - R ₀ initial bubble radius - t time - u velocity - U potential function - Y R/R ₀ Greek symbols covariant body metric tensor - surface tension - rate of deformation matrix, II -second invariant of - strain rate - ₀ zero shear rate viscosity - _e elongational viscosity - _ef effective viscosity - ¹, ², ³ coordinates in body system - ^{1 1}/R ₀ ³ - body stress tensor - density - space stress tensor - relaxation time - _ef effective relaxation time - bubble pressure function, defined in eq. [19] - vorticity tensor With 11 figures and 1 table     

On periodic flow of non linear viscoelastic liquids

Summary After brief reference to energetical principles in order to find suitable constitutive equations for non-linear viscoelastic fluids, the behaviour of stress components is examined, for a simple shear motion with sinusoidal time time varying displacements of a liquid with an oscillating fading memory.

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Sommario Dopo aver richiamato brevemente un possibile procedimento per la determinazione della equazione costitutiva per liquidi viscoelastici nel caso di grandi deformazioni, si esamina il comportamento delle componenti del tensore degli sforzi nel caso di un moto periodico a filetti rettilinei e paralleli, supposto che il liquido abbia una memoria debole e oscillante nel tempo.

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Research supported by C.N.R., Gruppo nazionale per la fisica matematica.     

Stability of spherical Couette flow in thick layers when the inner sphere revolves

A natural generalization of cylindrical Couette flow is the flow of a viscous incompressible liquid between two concentric spheres rotating about the same axis with different angular velocities. As has often been noted, spherical Couette flow is, despite the apparent similarity, considerably more complex than cylindrical flow. It consists of differential rotation about the axis and one- or two-eddy circulation (depending on the ratio between the angular velocities of the two spheres = ₂/₁) in the meridional plane and depends significantly on the Reynolds number Re = ₁r ₁ ² and the relative thickness of the layer = (r₂-r₁)/r₁ (₁, ₂ and r₁, r₂ are the angular velocities and radii of the inner and outer spheres, respectively. The investigation of spherical Gouette flow and its stability has begun relatively recently (within the last 10 years) and has evidently been stimulated by applied problems associated with astro- and geophysics. Because of the great computational difficulties encountered in investigating such flow theoretically, experimental investigations have yielded more extensive and interesting results [1–8], although all the published results refer to the case of rotation of one inner sphere ( = 0).Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 9–15, March–April, 1978.It remains to thank S. A. Shcherbakov for help in organizing automatic input of the signals to the BÉSM-6 computer.     

Conjugate heat transfer in the unbounded flow of a viscoelastic fluid past a sphere

This work addresses the conjugate heat transfer of a simplified PTT fluid flowing past an unbounded sphere in the Stokes regime (Re = 0.01). The problem is numerically solved with the finite-volume method assuming axisymmetry, absence of natural convection and constant physical properties. The sphere generates heat at a constant and uniform rate, and the analysis is conducted for a range of Deborah (0 ≤ De ≤ 100), Prandtl (10⁰ ≤ Pr ≤ 10⁵) and Brinkman (0 ≤ Br ≤ 100) numbers, in the presence or absence of thermal contact resistance at the solid–fluid interface and for different conductivity ratios (0.1 ≤ κ ≤ 10). The drag coefficient shows a monotonic decrease with De, whereas the normalized stresses on the sphere surface and in the wake first increase and then decrease with De. A negative wake was observed for the two solvent viscosity ratios tested (β = 0.1 and 0.5), being more intense for the more elastic fluid. In the absence of viscous dissipation, the average Nusselt number starts to decrease with De after an initial increase. Heat transfer enhancement relative to an equivalent Newtonian fluid was observed for the whole range of conditions tested. The dimensionless temperature of the sphere decreases and becomes more homogeneous when its thermal conductivity increases in relation to the conductivity of the fluid, although small changes are observed in the Nusselt number. The thermal contact resistance at the interface increases the average temperature of the sphere, without affecting significantly the shape of the temperature profiles inside the sphere. When viscous dissipation is considered, significant changes are observed in the heat transfer process as Br increases. Overall, a simplified PTT fluid can moderately enhance heat transfer compared to a Newtonian fluid, but increasing De does not necessarily improve heat exchange.     

Theoretical description of transient shear flow of viscoelastic liquids

A constitutive equation presented earlier has been generalized to describe the transient shear flow behaviour of polymer liquids. The mathematical structure and properties of such a generalization have been discussed. The practical expressions for the generalized relaxation modulus have been proposed.     

Remarks about the interpretation of impulse experiments in shear flows of viscoelastic liquids

Rheologica Acta - The effect of inertia in three popular impulse experiments in shear flows of viscoelastic liquids is considered. Dynamics of the flow is used to evaluate the stress observables...     

Finite element simulations of incompressible flow past a heated/cooled sphere

This paper reports numerical simulation of the flow past a heated/cooled sphere. A Galerkin finite element method is used to solve the 3D incompressible Boussinesq equations in primitive variable form. Numerical simulations of flow around the sphere for a range of Grashof numbers and moderate Reynolds numbers, were conducted. The drag coefficient for adiabatic flow shows good agreement with standard correlations over the range of the Reynolds numbers investigated. It is shown that the drag can vary considerably with heating of the sphere and that computational fluid dynamics methods can be used to derive constitutive laws for macroscopic momentum and heat exchange in multiphase flow. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of slip in the flow of a branched PP melt: experiments and simulations

In this paper visualisation and direct velocity profile measurement experiments for a branched polypropylene melt in a 10:1 axisymmetric contraction demonstrate the onset of wall slip. Video processing of the flow shows the formation of vortices and their diminution with increasing flow rate. Numerical simulations using a multimode K-BKZ viscoelastic and a purely viscous (Cross) model—both of them incorporating a nonlinear slip law—were used to predict the flow kinematics and dynamics as well as to deduce the slip velocity function by performing fitting to the velocity profiles. It was found that the numerical predictions agree well with the experimental results for the velocity profiles, and vortex formation, growth and reduction. It is suggested that such experiments (visualisation of entrance flow and direct velocity profile measurement) can be useful in evaluating the validity of constitutive equations and slip laws in the flow of polymer melts through processing equipment.     

Unsteady Couette flow in a rotating system

The unsteady Couette flow between two infinite horizontal plates induced by the non-torsional oscillations of one of the plates in a rotating system under the boundary layer approximations is investigated. An exact solution of the governing equations has been obtained by using Laplace transform technique. It is shown that when the oscillating plate situated at an infinite distance from stationary plate then the problem reduces to the unsteady boundary layer problem in a rotating system with non-torsional oscillations of the free-stream velocity.     

Unsteady Couette flow in a rotating system

We have studied the unsteady Couette flow of a viscous incompressible fluid confined between parallel plates, rotating with an uniform angular velocity about an axis normal to the plates. The flow is induced by the motion of the upper plate and the fluid and plates rotate in unison with the same constant angular velocity. An exact solution of the governing equations have been obtained for small and large time $\tau$ by applying Laplace transform technique. It is found that the primary velocity decreases with increase in rotation parameter for small as well as large time. It is interesting to note that a back flow occurs in the region $0.0⩽\eta ⩽0.7$ for large time with increase in K when $K=4$ and 5. The secondary velocity increases in magnitude for small time with increase in rotation parameter. It is observed that the secondary velocity increases in magnitude for small values of rotation parameter. On the other hand, for large values of rotation parameter $K^2$, it decreases near the stationary plate and increases near the moving plate. The shear stress due to primary flow decreases with increase in rotation parameter $K^2$. On the other hand, it increases due to secondary flow with increase in rotation parameter for small time. It is noticed that for large time there exists separation in the primary and secondary flows due to high rotation.     

3D simulations of the flow of thixotropic fluids,in large-gap Couette and vane-cup geometries

Models of the vane-cup and Couette rheometers are compared using computational fluid dynamics as well as approximate solutions. Thixotropy of the fluid is incorporated by means of a model based on experimental data for various toothpastes. Parameters of the model are calculated by fitting the results of step-shear tests in Couette geometry and are subsequently used to predict torque for similar tests in vane-cup geometry. Calculations for the thixotropic model were compared to the calculations for a time-independent equilibrium model with the same steady-shear rheology. There are two important findings in this work. First, at constant angular velocity, torque in the vane-cup rheometer for the thixotropic model turns out greater than for the equilibrium model, because the structure of the thixotropic fluid has not had enough time to reach equilibrium. This has implications for rheometry and the modeling of mixing operations. In both cases, torques may be underestimated if the standard equilibrium model is used in calculations. The second finding is relevant to rheometry. As is well known, equilibrium model predicts a lower torque value for a vane-cup geometry than for an equivalent Couette geometry. We found that taking thixotropy into account either makes the difference less pronounced or in some cases actually makes torque for vane-cup higher than for Couette. End effects are also analyzed.