This paper reports the suitability of a domain decomposition technique for the hybrid simulation of dilute polymer solution flows using Eulerian Brownian dynamics and Radial Basis Function Networks (RBFN) based methods. The Brownian Configuration Fields (BCF) and RBFN method incorporates the features of the BCF scheme (which render both closed form constitutive equations and a particle tracking process unnecessary) and a mesh-less method (which eliminates element-based discretisation of domains). However, when dealing with large scale problems, there appear several difficulties: the high computational time associated with the Stochastic Simulation Technique (SST), and the ill-condition of the system matrix associated with the RBFN. One way to overcome these disadvantages is to use parallel domain decomposition (DD) techniques. This approach makes the BCF-RBFN method more suitable for large scale problems.

We investigate time-temperature superposition from the viewpoint of geometry. The arc length of viscoelastic plots provides powerful resolution for check of the validity of time-temperature superposition. We also suggest a new algorithm for determination of shift factor which is base on the minimization of the total arc length and does not assume any functional form of viscoelastic function.

We studied the flow characteristics of the polymer melt in the injection molding process with ultrasonic vibration by using the numerical analysis. To minimize the error between the experimental data and numerical result, we presented a methodology using the design of experiments and the response surface method for reverse engineering. This methodology can be applied to various fields to obtain a valid and accurate numerical analysis. Ultrasonic vibration is generally applied between an extruder and the entrance of a mold for improvement the flow rate in injection molding. In comparison with the general ultrasonic process, the mode shape of the mold must be also considered when the ultrasonic vibration is applied on the mold. The mode shape is defined as the periodic and spatial deformation of the structure owing to the effect of the vibration, and it varies greatly according to vibration conditions such as the forcing frequency. Therefore, we considered new index and found the forcing frequency for obtaining the highest flow rate within the range from 20 to 60 kHz on the basis of the index. Ultimately, we presented the methodology for not only obtaining a valid and accurate numerical analysis, but also for finding the forcing frequency to obtain the highest flow rate in injection molding using ultrasonic vibration.

In this work, we numerically investigate the effect of viscoelasticity on 2D laminar vortex dynamics in flows past a single rotating cylinder for rotational rates $0{\leq}{\alpha}{\leq}5$ (the rotational rate ex is defined by the ratio of the circumferential rotating velocity to free stream velocity) at Re=100, in which the vortex shedding has been predicted to occur in literature for Newtonian fluids. The objective of the present research is to develop a promising technique to fully suppress the vortex shedding past a bluff body by rotating a cylinder and controlling fluid elasticity. The predicted vortex dynamics with the present method is consistent with the previous works for Newtonian flows past a rotating cylinder. We also verified our method by comparing our data with the literature in the case of viscoelastic flow past a non-rotating cylinder. For $0{\leq}{\alpha}{\leq}1.8$, the frequency of vortex shedding slightly decreases but the fluctuation of drag and lift coefficient significantly decreases with increasing fluid elasticity. We observe that the vortex shedding of viscoelastic flow disappears at lower ${\alpha}$ than the Newtonian case. At ${\alpha}$=5, the relationship between the frequency of vortex shedding and Weissenberg number (Wi) is predicted to be non-monotonic and have a minimum around Wi=0.25. The vortex shedding finally disappears over critical Wi number. The present results suggest that the vortex shedding in the flow around a rotating cylinder can be more effectively suppressed for viscoelastic fluids than Newtonian fluids.

Atherosclerosis is a disease that narrows, thickens, hardens, and restructures a blood vessel due to substantial plaque deposit. The geometric models of the considered stenotic blood flow are three different types of constriction of cross-sectional area of blood vessel; 25%, 50%, and 75% of constriction. The computational model with the fluid-structure interaction is introduced to investigate the wall shear stresses, blood flow field and recirculation zone in the stenotic vessels. The velocity profile in a compliant stenotic artery with various constrictions is subjected to prescribed physiologic waveform. The computational simulations were performed, in which the physiological flow through a compliant axisymmetric stenotic blood vessel was solved using commercial software ADINA 8.4 developed by finite element method. We demonstrated comparisons of the wall shear stress with or without the fluid-structure interaction and their velocity profiles under the physiological flow condition in the compliant stenotic artery. The present results enhance our understanding of the hemodynamic characteristics in a compliant stenotic artery.

We have investigated the transient behavior of 1D fully developed Poiseuille viscoelastic flow under finite pressure gradient described by the Oldroyd-B and Leonov constitutive equations. For analysis we employ a simple $2^{nd}$ order discretization scheme such as central difference for space and the Crank-Nicolson for time approximation. For the analysis of the Oldroyd-B model, we also apply the analytical solution, which is obtained again in this work in terms of elementary solution procedure simpler than the previous one (Waters and King, 1970). Both models demonstrate qualitatively similar solutions, but their eventual steady flowrate exhibits noticeable difference due to the absence or presence of shear thinning behavior. In the inertialess flow, the flowrate instantaneously attains a large value corresponding to the Newtonian creeping flow and then decreases to its steady value when the applied pressure gradient is low. However with finite liquid density the flow field shows severe fluctuation even accompanying reversals of flow directions. As the assigned pressure gradient increases, the flowrate achieves its steady value significantly higher than its value during oscillations after quite long period of time. We have also illustrated comparison between 1D and 2D results and possible mechanism of complex 2D flow rearrangement employing a previous solution of [mite element computation. In addition, we discuss some mathematical points regarding missing boundary conditions in 2D modeling due to the change of the type of differential equations when varying from inertialess to inertial flow.

The prediction of pressure drop for a droplet flow in a confined micro channel is presented using FE-FTM (Finite Element - Front Tracking Method). A single droplet is passing through 5:1:5 contraction - straight narrow channel - expansion flow domain. The pressure drop is investigated especially when the droplet flows in the straight narrow channel. We explore the effects of droplet size, capillary number (Ca), viscosity ratio ($\chi$) between droplet and medium, and fluid elasticity represented by the Oldroyd-B constitutive model on the excess pressure drop (${\Delta}p^+$) against single phase flow. The tightly fitted droplets in the narrow channel are mainly considered in the range of $0.001{\leq}Ca{\leq}1$ and $0.01{\leq}{\chi}{\leq}100$. In Newtonian droplet/Newtonian medium, two characteristic features are observed. First, an approximate relation ${\Delta}p^+{\sim}{\chi}$ observed for ${\chi}{\geq}1$. The excess pressure drop necessary for droplet flow is roughly proportional to $\chi$. Second, ${\Delta}p^+$ seems inversely proportional to Ca, which is represented as ${\Delta}p^+{\sim}Ca^m$ with negative m irrespective of $\chi$. In addition, we observe that the film thickness (${\delta}_f$) between droplet interface and channel wall decreases with decreasing Ca, showing ${\delta}_f{\sim}Ca^n$ Can with positive n independent of $\chi$. Consequently, the excess pressure drop (${\Delta}p^+$) is strongly dependent on the film thickness (${\delta}_f$). The droplets larger than the channel width show enhancement of ${\Delta}p^+$, whereas the smaller droplets show no significant change in ${\Delta}p^+$. Also, the droplet deformation in the narrow channel is affected by the flow history of the contraction flow at the entrance region, but rather surprisingly ${\Delta}p^+$ is not affected by this flow history. Instead, ${\Delta}p^+$ is more dependent on ${\delta}_f$ irrespective of the droplet shape. As for the effect of fluid elasticity, an increase in ${\delta}_f$ induced by the normal stress difference in viscoelastic medium results in a drastic reduction of ${\Delta}p^+$.

The incomplete saturation and the void formation during the resin infiltration into fibrous porous media in the resin transfer molding process cause failure in the final product during its service. In order to better understand flow behavior during the filling process, a finite-element scheme for transient flow simulation across the micro-structured fibrous media is developed in the present work. A volume-of- fluid (VOF) method has been incorporated in the Eulerian frame to capture the evolution of flow front and the vertical periodic boundary condition has been combined to avoid unwanted wall effect. In the microscale simulation, we investigated the transient filling process in various fiber structures and discussed the mechanism leading to the flow fingering in the case of random fiber distribution. Effects of the filling pressure, the shear-thinning behavior of fluid and the volume fraction on the flow front have been investigated for both intra-tow and the inter-tow flows in dual-scale fiber tow models.