Calculation of polymer flow using micro-macro simulations

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

12-1-2004

Abstract

A micro-macro simulation algorithm for the calculation of polymeric flow is developed and implemented. The algorithm couples standard finite element techniques to compute velocity and pressure fields with stochastic simulation techniques to compute polymer stress from simulated polymer dynamics. The polymer stress is computed using a microscopic-based rheological model which combines aspects of network and reptation theory with aspects of continuum mechanics. The model dynamics include two Gaussian stochastic processes each of which is destroyed and regenerated according to a survival time randomly generated from the material's relaxation spectrum. The Eulerian form of the evolution equations for the polymer configurations are spatially discretized using the discontinuous Galerkin method. The algorithm is tested on benchmark contraction domains for a polyisobutylene (PIB) solution. In particular, the flow in the abrupt die entry domain is simulated and the simulation results are compared with experimental data. The results exhibit the correct qualitative behavior of the polymer and agree well with the experimental data. Copyright © 2004 by ASME.

Publication Title

American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Fluids Engineering Division (Publication) FED

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