Flow of a Viscoelastic Fluid in a Inlet Region : Numerical Solutions and Discussion

Abstract

The behaviour of the Maxwell fluid in the inlet region of a channel composed of flat plates is revealed by solving the governing equations numerically. Two cases are studied, one with the boundary condition of a uniform flow far upstream of the entrance and the other with the condition of a uniform flow at the entrance. It is shown that a negative vorticity and a distinct flow pattern appear near the leading edge of the plate caused by a steep gradient of a normal stress for the former case. The numerical results also indicate that the profiles of kinematic variables in cross sections have inflection points and extreme values, that the region where the internal energy of fluid elements decreases exists near the leading edge and that the vorticity distribution along the wall gas extreme values.