Hydrodynamical changes due to polymer migration in very dilute solutions

Abstract

The slip hypothesis, based on thermodynamical arguments, has been extended to obtain the flow characteristics of polymer solutions flowing in a nonhomogeneous flow field. An asymptotic analysis, valid for both channel and falling film flows, is presented that predicts the flow enhancement due to polymer migration. Concentration-viscosity coupling is shown to be a critical factor in the hydrodynamic analysis. The analysis, which essentially provides an upper bound on flow enhancement, explicitly accounts for the influence of wall shear stress, initial polymer concentration etc. A comparison with the pertinent experimental data shows reasonable agreement.