Simulation of dilute polymeric fluids in a three-dimensional contraction using a multiscale FENE model

Abstract

We apply the multiscale FENE model to a 3D square-square contraction flow problem. For this purpose, wecouple the stochastic Brownian configuration field method (BCF) with our fully parallelized three-dimensional Navier-Stokes solver NaSt3DGPF. The robustness of the BCF method enables the numerical simulation of high Deborah number flows for which most macroscopic methods suffer from stability issues. We compare the results of our simulations with that of experimental measurements from literature and obtain a very good agreement. In particular, we are able to reproduce effects such as strong vortex enhancement, streamline divergence and flow inversion for highly elastic flows. Due to their computational complexity, our simulations require massively parallel computations. Using a domain decomposition approach with MPI, we achieve excellent scale-up results for up to 128 processors.