Abstract
When a drop of fluid containing long, flexible polymers breaks up, it forms threads of almost constant thickness, whose size decreases exponentially in time. Using an Oldroyd-B fluid as a model, we show that the thread profile, rescaled by the thread thickness, converges to a similarity solution. Using the correspondence between viscoelastic fluids and nonlinear elasticity, we derive similarity equations for the full three-dimensional axisymmetric flow field in the limit that the viscosity of the solvent fluid can be neglected. Deriving a conservation law along the thread, we can calculate the stress inside the thread from a measurement of the thread thickness. The explicit form of the velocity and stress fields can be deduced from a solution of the similarity equations. Results are validated by detailed comparison with numerical simulations
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | A19 |
Journal | Journal of fluid mechanics |
Volume | 887 |
Early online date | 28 Jan 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 25 Mar 2020 |
Keywords
- 2022 OA procedure
- capillary flows
- polymers
- drops
- UT-Hybrid-D