Apparent slip for an upper convected Maxwell fluid

Abstract

In this study the flow field of a nonlocal, diffusive upper convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid with a polymer in a solvent undergoing shearing motion is investigated for pressure driven planar channel flow and the free boundary problem of a liquid layer on a solid substrate. For large ratios of the zero shear polymer viscosity to the solvent viscosity, it is shown that channel flows exhibit boundary layers at the channel walls. In addition, for increasing stress diffusion the flow field away from the boundary layers undergoes a transition from a parabolic to a plug flow. Using experimental data for the wormlike micelle solutions CTAB/NaSal and CPyCl/NaSal, it is shown that the analytic solution of the governing equations predicts these signatures of the velocity profiles. Corresponding flow structures and transitions are found for the free boundary problem of a thin layer sheared along a solid substrate. Matched asymptotic expansions are used to first derive sharp-interface models describing the bulk flow with expressions for an apparent slip for the boundary conditions, obtained by matching to the flow in the boundary layers. For a thin film geometry several asymptotic regimes are identified in terms of the order of magnitude of the stress diffusion, and corresponding new thin film models with a slip boundary condition are derived.