▪ Abstract Filament-stretching rheometers are devices for measuring the extensional viscosity of moderately viscous non-Newtonian fluids such as polymer solutions. In these devices, a cylindrical liquid bridge is initially formed between two circular end-plates. The plates are then moved apart in a prescribed manner such that the fluid sample is subjected to a strong extensional deformation. Asymptotic analysis and numerical computation show that the resulting kinematics closely approximate those of an ideal homogeneous uniaxial elongation. The evolution in the tensile stress (measured mechanically) and the molecular conformation (measured optically) can be followed as functions of the rate of stretching and the total strain imposed. The resulting rheological measurements are a sensitive discriminant of molecularly based constitutive equations proposed for complex fluids. The dynamical response of the elongating filament is also coupled to the extensional rheology of the polymeric test fluid, and this can...

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Filament-stretching rheometry of complex fluids

A non-inertial (zero Taylor number) viscoelastic instability is discovered for Taylor–Couette flow of dilute polymer solutions. A linear stability analysis of the inertialess flow of an Oldroyd-B fluid (using both approximate Galerkin analysis and numerical solution of the relevant small-gap eigenvalue problem) show the growth of an overstable (oscillating) mode when the Deborah number exceeds f(S) e−½, where e is the ratio of the gap to the inner cylinder radius, and f(S) is a function of the ratio of solvent to polymer contributions to the solution viscosity. Experiments with a solution of 1000 p.p.m. high-molecular-weight polyisobutylene in a viscous solvent show an onset of secondary toroidal cells when the Deborah number De reaches 20, for e of 0.14, and a Taylor number of 10−6, in excellent agreement with the theoretical value of 21. The critical De was observed to increase as e decreases, in agreement with the theory. At long times after onset of the instability, the cells become small in wavelength compared to those that occur in the inertial instability, again in agreement with our linear analysis. For this fluid, a similar instability occurs in cone-and-plate flow, as reported earlier. The driving force for these instabilities is the interaction between a velocity fluctuation and the first normal stress difference in the base state. Instabilities of the kind that we report here are likely to occur in many rotational shearing flows of viscoelastic fluids.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022112090001124

A purely elastic instability in Taylor-Couette flow

Adding a Newtonian solvent to most differential viscoelastic constitutive equations mathematically regularizes the coupled set formed by the momentum, continuity and constitutive equations. The momentum and continuity equations form an elliptic saddle point problem for velocity and pressure, and the constitutive equation is hyperbolic in stress. Three finite element algorithms are presented that exploit this elliptic behavior by expressing the momentum equation in different differential forms. The first is based on the viscous elliptic operator that arises naturally with the introduction of a Newtonian solvent viscosity; the second is based on the explicitly elliptic momentum equation formulation developed for the upper-convected Maxwell model; and the third is based on an elastic-viscous splitting of the momentum equation. Finite element discretizations are created by using Galerkin's method for the momentum and continuity equations and the streamline-upwind Petrov-Galerkin method for the components of the constitutive equation. In the latter two methods, additional interpolants are introduced so as to maintain continuous representations of velocity derivatives across element boundaries; this is a requirement if only those higher-order velocity terms which are explicitly elliptic are integrated by parts. Calculations for flow between eccentric cylinders and through a corrugated tube demonstrate the numerical stability and accuracy of each of the formulations. The robustness of each algorithm for calculation of flows at high Deborah numbers depends on the value of the ratio β ≡ ηS/gh0, where ηs is the solvent viscosity and η0 is the viscosity of the solution. The algorithm based on the elastic-viscous splitting is the most robust across the full range 0 ≤ β ≤ 1.

Finite element methdos for calculation of steady, viscoelastic flow using constitutive equations with a Newtonian viscosity

Experimental evidence of a non-inertial, cellular instability in the Taylor-Couette flow of a viscoelastic fluid is presented. A linear stability analysis for an Oldroyd-B fluid, which is successful in describing many features of the experimental fluid, predicts the critical Deborah number,Dec, at which the instability is observed. The dependence ofDec on the value of the dimensionless gap between the cylinders is also determined.

A purely elastic transition in Taylor-Couette flow*)

The steady-state and time-dependent flow transitions observed in a well-characterized viscoelastic fluid flowing through an abrupt axisymmetric contraction are characterized in terms of the Deborah number and contraction ratio by laser-Doppler velocimetry and flow visualization measurements. A sequence of flow transitions are identified that lead to time-periodic, quasi-periodic and aperiodic dynamics near the lip of the contraction and to the formation of an elastic vortex at the lip entrance. This lip vortex increases in intensity and expands outwards into the upstream tube as the Deborah number is increased, until a further flow instability leads to unsteady oscillations of the large elastic vortex. The values of the critical Deborah number for the onset of each of these transitions depends on the contraction ratio β, defined as the ratio of the radii of the large and small tubes. Time-dependent, three-dimensional flow near the contraction lip is observed only for contraction ratios 2 [les ] β [les ] 5, and the flow remains steady for higher contraction ratios. Rounding the corner of the 4:1 abrupt contraction leads to increased values of Deborah number for the onset of these flow transitions, but does not change the general structure of the transitions.

G. Prilutski

Papers

Model viscoelastic liquids