Extrudate swell of Boger fluids

Boger fluids are dilute polymer solutions exhibiting high elasticity at low apparent shear rates, which leads to high extrudate swell. Numerical simulations have been undertaken for the flow of three Boger fluids (including benchmark Fluid M1), obeying an integral constitutive equation of the K-BKZ type, capable of describing the behavior of dilute polymer solutions. Their rheology is well captured by the integral model. The flow simulations are performed for planar and axisymmetric geometries without or with gravity. The results provide the extrudate swell and the excess pressure losses (exit correction), as well as the shape and extent of the free surface. All these quantities increase rapidly and monotonically with increasing elasticity level measured by the stress ratio, S-R. It was found that the main reason for the high extrudate swelling is high normal stresses exhibited in shear flow (namely, the first normal-stress difference, N-1). Surprisingly, the elongational parameter of the model or a second normal-stress difference N-2 do not affect the results appreciably. Gravity serves to lower the swelling considerably, and makes the simulations easier and in overall agreement with previous experiments. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.