Numerical analysis of viscoelastic flows in a channel obstructed by an asymmetric array of obstacles

This study presents results on the numerical simulation of Newtonian and non-Newtonian flow in a channel obstructed by an asymmetric array of obstacles for clarifying the descriptive ability of current non-Newtonian constitutive equations. Jones and Walters (1989) have performed the corresponding experiment that clearly demonstrates the characteristic difference among the flow patterns of the various liquids. In order to appropriately account for flow properties, the Navier-Stokes, the Carreau viscous and the Leonov equations are employed for Newtonian, shear thinning and extension hardening liquids, respectively. Making use of the tensor-logarithmic formulation of the Leonov model in the computational scheme, we have obtained stable solutions up to relatively high Deborah numbers. The peculiar characteristics of the non-Newtonian liquids such as shear thinning and extension hardening seem to be properly illustrated by the flow modeling. In our opinion, the results show the possibility of current constitutive modeling to appropriately describe non-Newtonian flow phenomena at least qualitatively, even though the model parameters specified for the current computation do not precisely represent material characteristics.