Polymer deformation in various flows

Using a Langevin-like approach, the deformation of a polymer, modelled as a bead-spring chain, is calculated in simple shear, elongational and Kramers potential flow. Analytic expressions for the mean-square end-to-end distance, radius of gyration, segment-segment distance, static structure factor up to O(q⁴) and the intrinsic elongational viscosity are given. Near equilibrium, preaveraged hydrodynamic interaction is taken into account.