Flow Characterization of Viscoelastic Fluids around Square Obstacle

Abstract

This study focuses on the computational implementation of structured non-uniform finite volume method for the 2-D laminar flow of viscoelastic fluid past a square section of cylinder in a confined channel with a blockage ratio 1/4 for Re = 10^-4, 5, 10 and 20. Oldroyd-B model (constant viscosity with elasticity) and the PTT model (shear-thinning with elasticity) are the constitutive models considered. In this study effects of the elasticity and inertia on the drag coefficients and stress fields around the square cylinder are obtained and discussed in detail. With an increase elasticity, drag coefficients get smaller due to stronger shear thinning effects for PTT fluid, however, the drag coefficients show slightly enhancement for the Oldroyd-B fluid.