On the effective viscosity of a periodic suspension – analysis of primal and dual formulations for Newtonian and non‐Newtonian solvents

Computer simulations of the injection molding process of fiber‐reinforced plastics critically depend on the accuracy of the constitutive models. Of prime importance for the process simulation is the precise knowledge of the viscosity. Industrial applications generally feature both high shear rates and high fiber volume fractions. Thus, both the shear‐thinning behavior of the melt and the strong anisotropic effects induced by the fibers play a dominant role. Unfortunately, the viscosity cannot be determined experimentally in its full anisotropy, and analytical models cease to be accurate for the high fiber volume fractions in question. Computing the effective viscosity by a simplified homogenization approach serves as a possible remedy. This paper is devoted to the analysis of a cell problem determining the effective viscosity. We provide primal as well as dual formulations and prove corresponding existence and uniqueness theorems for Newtonian and Carreau fluids in suitable Sobolev spaces. In the Newtonian regime, the primal formulation leads to a saddle point problem, whereas a dual formulation can be obtained in terms of a coercive and symmetric bilinear form. This observation has deep implications for numerical formulations. As a by‐product, we obtain the invertibility of the effective viscosity, considered as a function, mapping the macroscopic shear rate to the macroscopic shear stress. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.