A new approach for the FEM simulation of viscoelastic flows

Abstract

We present a finite element method for the simulation of viscoelastic flow. A decoupled approach is employed for the computation of the velocity field and of the components of the extra-stress tensor. The high Weissenberg number problem is addressed by using together two different types of upwinding namely the streamline upwinding technique and the Lesaint-Reviart method. Numerical results are presented for the case of the 4 to 1 plane contraction. © 1989.