Implementation of the Log-Conformation Formulation for Two-Dimensional Viscoelastic Flow

TL;DR

This paper presents the implementation and verification of the log-conformation method for simulating two-dimensional viscoelastic flows in COMSOL, demonstrating its application to various models and geometries.

Contribution

The authors developed and verified a COMSOL implementation of the log-conformation method for multiple viscoelastic models, enabling advanced flow simulations.

Findings

Successful implementation of the method in COMSOL

Verification with Oldroyd-B flow past a cylinder

Simulation of flow bistability in a cross-slot geometry

Abstract

We have implemented the log-conformation method for two-dimensional viscoelastic flow in COMSOL, a commercial high-level finite element package. The code is verified for an Oldroyd-B fluid flowing past a confined cylinder. We are also able to describe the well-known bistability of the viscoelastic flow in a cross-slot geometry for a FENE-CR fluid, and we describe the changes required for performing simulations with the Phan-Thien-Tanner (PTT), Giesekus and FENE-P models. Finally, we calculate the flow of a FENE-CR fluid in a geometry with three in- and outlets. The implementation is included in the supplementary material, and we hope that it can inspire new as well as experienced researchers in the field of differential constitutive equations for viscoelastic flow.