On Newtonian and non-Newtonian flow in complex geometries

Abstract

A flow visualization technique by means of an expanded laser beam and trace amounts of particulate additives is used to study the behaviour of Newtonian and non-Newtonian elastic liquids in a number of complex geometries. Particular attention is paid to the effect of fluid elasticity on the flow characteristics. Attempts are made to simulate numerically the observed flows by using finite-difference techniques. The agreement between theory and experiment is very satisfactory.