Jason Howell,  Clemson University

Computing viscoelastic fluid flows at high Weissenberg number

Abstract:  The numerical simulation of viscoelastic fluid flow becomes more difficult as a physical parameter, the Weissenberg number, increases. Specifically, for a given discretization scheme and set of problem parameters, standard nonlinear solution approaches fail to converge beyond a critical value of the Weissenberg number.  In this talk we discuss the steady-state Johnson-Segalman model for viscoelastic fluid flow and the high Weissenberg number problem.  We examine the behavior of computed solutions near the critical Weissenberg value and investigate approaches to computing solutions for even larger Weissenberg number, including defect-correction methods and continuation methods.

Advisors: (Vincent) V. J. Ervin and (Hyesuk) H. Lee (Clemson)