The deformation fields method revisited: Stable simulation of instationary viscoelastic fluid flow using integral models

The implementation of the deformation fields method for integral models within a finite element context [1,2] has been updated with various techniques to have a numerical stability that is comparable to state-of-the-art implementations of differential models. In particular, the time-dependent stability in shear flow, decoupled schemes for zero or small solvent viscosities and the log-conformation representation now have counterparts in the numerical implementation of integral models leading to similar numerical stability. The new techniques have been tested in transient shear flow and the flow around a cylinder confined between two plates for the integral version of upper-convected Maxwell model and for integral models having a non-constant damping function.