The effect of support locations on the steady-state response of viscoelastically point-supported rectangular orthotropic plates

The vibration of orthotropic rectangular plates having viscoelastic point supports symmetrically located on its diagonals is analyzed. The plate is under the effect of a sinusoidally varying force at its center. The Lagrange equations are used in the solution process. To apply the Lagrange equations, the trial function denoting the deflection of the plate is expressed in polynomial form. By using the Lagrange equations, the problem is reduced to the solution of a system of algebraic equations. The influence of the mechanical properties, the damping of the supports and the locations of point supports on the steady-state response of the viscoelastically point-supported rectangular plates is investigated numerically for the concentrated load at center for various values of the mechanical properties characterizing the anisotropy of the plate material and for various values of damping and location of the supports for a certain stiffness value of the supports. The results are given for the considered frequency range of the external force. Convergence studies are made. The validity of the obtained results is demonstrated by comparing them with other solutions based on the Kirchhoff–Love plate theory.     

Analysis of free non-linear vibrations of a viscoelastic plate under the conditions of different internal resonances

Non-linear free damped vibrations of a rectangular plate described by three non-linear differential equations are considered when the plate is being under the conditions of the internal resonance one-to-one, and the internal additive or difference combinational resonances. Viscous properties of the system are described by the Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative of the order smaller than unit. The functions of the in-plane and out-of-plane displacements are determined in terms of eigenfunctions of linear vibrations with the further utilization of the method of multiple scales, in so doing the amplitude functions are expanded into power series in terms of the small parameter and depend on different time scales, but the fractional derivative is represented as a fractional power of the differentiation operator. It is assumed that the order of the damping coefficient depends on the character of the vibratory process and takes on the magnitude of the amplitudes’ order. The time-dependence of the amplitudes in the form of incomplete integrals of the first kind is obtained. Using the constructed solutions, the influence of viscosity on the energy exchange mechanism is analyzed which is intrinsic to free vibrations of different structures being under the conditions of the internal resonance. It is shown that each mode is characterized by its damping coefficient which is connected with the natural frequency of this mode by the exponential relationship with a negative fractional exponent. It is shown that viscosity may have a twofold effect on the system: a destabilizing influence producing unsteady energy exchange, and a stabilizing influence resulting in damping of the energy exchange mechanism.     

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.     

On the fully developed tube flow of a class of non-linear viscoelastic fluids

The fully developed pipe flow of a class of non-linear viscoelastic fluids is investigated. Analytical expressions are derived for the stress components, the friction factor and the velocity field. The friction factor which depends on the Deborah and Reynolds numbers is substantially smaller than the corresponding value for the Newtonian flow field with implications concerning the volume flow rate. We show that non-affine models in the class of constitutive equations considered such as Johnson-Segalman and some versions of the Phan-Thien-Tanner models are not representative of physically realistic flow fields for all Deborah numbers. For a fixed value of the slippage factor they predict physically admissible flow fields only for a limited range of Deborah numbers smaller than a critical Deborah number. The latter is a function of the slippage.     

Effect of the rate of deformation on the crystallization behavior of polymers

Deformation has a significant influence on the crystallization process in a number of polymers. In this paper, the response of a recently developed model for crystallizing polymers is investigated when subject to uni-, bi-axial and constant width extensions for a range of strain rates. Both the loading and unloading behavior are examined for these deformations. The particular model studied here was developed to capture the effect of strain induced crystallization in polymers and has been applied to model crystallization in polyethylene terephthalate at temperatures just above its glass transition temperature. The model has been formulated using the notion of multiple natural configurations within a full thermodynamic framework. The connection between micro-structural changes taking place in the polymer and the form of the model are elucidated. The interplay between the relaxation processes, the rate of deformation and their combined effect on crystallization is illustrated. The results show an earlier onset of crystallization for high strain rates due to stretching of the polymer network. At low strain rates however, crystallization is not observed as the polymer network is able to relax during the deformation. A sharp upturn in the stress is observed after the onset of crystallization due to the formation of a rigid crystalline phase. The unloading curves clearly show a hysteric behavior with the amount of dissipation increasing for increasing values of strain rate. These results compare favorably with experimental observations available in literature.     

The adhesive contact of viscoelastic spheres

We have formulated the restricted self-consistent model for the adhesive contact of linear viscoelastic spheres. This model is a generalization of both the Ting (J. Appl. Mech. 33 (1966) 845) approach to the viscoelastic contact of adhesionless spheres and the restricted self-consistent model for adhesive axisymmetric bodies. We also show how the model can be used in practice by giving a few examples of numerical solutions.     

Experimental study of an impact oscillator with viscoelastic and Hertzian contact

Modeling an impact event is often related to the desired outcome of an impact oscillator study. If the only intent is to study the dynamic behavior of the system, numerous researchers have shown that simpler impact models will often suffice. However, when the geometric contours and material properties of the two colliding surfaces are known, it is often of interest to model the contact event at a greater level of complexity. This paper investigates the application of a finite time impact model to the study of a parametrically excited planar pendulum subjected to a motion-dependent discontinuity. Experimental and numerical studies demonstrate the presence of multiple periodic attractors, subharmonics, quasi-periodic motions, and chaotic oscillations.     

Flow visualization of the elastic Taylor-Couette instability in Boger fluids

Flow visualization is performed on an elastically-dominated instability in several similar Boger fluids in Taylor-Couette flow. The onset and evolution of secondary flow are observed over a range of shear rates using reflective mica platelet seeding. Sequences of ambiently and sheet-illuminated images were digitally processed. Rotation of the inner cylinder was ramped from rest to its final value over a time on the order of a polymer relaxation time. Dilute solutions of high molecular weight polyisobutylene in oligomeric polybutene manifest a flow transition at a Deborah number, De _s = _s 1.5 with a Taylor number of 0.00022 in a cell with dimensionless gap ratio = 0.0963. At this transition, simple azimuthal shearing is replaced by steady, roughly square, axisymmetric counter-rotating vortices grossly similar to the well-known Taylor vortex flow that is observed at De _s = 0, Ta = 3612. At De _s = 3.75, Ta = 0.0014, an axisymmetric oscillatory secondary flow develops initially but is replaced by the steady vortices. At De _s = 7.5, Ta = 0.0054, the oscillatory and vortex flow coexist and possess an irregular cellular cross-section. A wide span of growth rates is observed: the ratio of onset to polymer relaxation time ranges from 170000 at De _s = 1.5 to O(10) at De _s > 5. The role of inertia was explored through changing the solvent viscosity. A transition similar to the one that occurs at De _s = 3.75, Ta = 0.0014, from the base azimuthal shearing flow to axisymmetric vortices, was also observed with a much lower viscosity fluid at De _s = 3.3, Ta = 74.     

Bifurcation phenomena in viscoelastic flows through a symmetric 1:4 expansion

In this work we present an investigation of viscoelastic flow in a planar sudden expansion with expansion ratio D/d = 4. We apply the modified FENE–CR constitutive model based on the non-linear finite extensibility dumbbells (FENE) model. The governing equations were solved using a finite volume method with the high-resolution CUBISTA scheme utilised for the discretisation of the convective terms in the stress and momentum equations. Our interest here is to investigate two-dimensional steady-state solutions where, above a critical Reynolds number, stable asymmetric flow states are known to occur. We report a systematic parametric investigation, clarifying the roles of Reynolds number (0.01 < Re < 100), Weissenberg number (0 < We < 100) and the solvent viscosity ratio (0.3 < β < 1). For most simulations the extensibility parameter of the FENE model was kept constant, at a value L² = 100, but some exploration of its effect in the range 100–500 shows a rather minor influence. The results given comprise flow patterns, streamlines and vortex sizes and intensities, and pressure and velocity distributions along the centreline (i.e. y = 0). For the Newtonian case, in agreement with previous studies, a bifurcation to asymmetric flow was observed for Reynolds numbers greater than about 36. In contrast viscoelasticity was found to stabilise the flow; setting β = 0.5 and We = 2 as typical values, resulted in symmetric flow up to a Reynolds number of about 46. We analyse these two cases in particular detail.