Viscous and Viscoelastic Potential Flow

Abstract

Potential flows of incompressible fluids admit a pressure (Bernoulli) equation when the divergence of the stress is a gradient as in inviscid fluids, viscous fluids, linear viscoelastic fluids and second-order fluids. We show that the equation balancing drag and acceleration is the same for all these fluids independent of the viscosity or any viscoelastic parameter and that the drag is zero in steady flow. The unsteady drag on bubbles in a viscous (and possibly in a viscoelastic) fluid may be approximated by evaluating the dissipation integral of the approximating potential flow because the neglected dissipation in the vorticity layer at the traction-free boundary of the bubble gets smaller as the Reynolds number is increased. Using the potential flow approximation, the drag on a spherical gas bubble of radius rising with velocity in a linear viscoelastic liquid of density and shear modules is given by

and in a second-order fluid by

where is the coefficient of the first normal stress and is the viscosity of the fluid. Because is negative, we see from this formula that the unsteady normal stresses oppose inertia; that is, oppose the acceleration reaction. When is slowly varying, the two formulas coincide. For steady flow, we obtain for both viscous and viscoelastic fluids. In the case where the dynamic contribution of the interior flow of the bubble cannot be ignored as in the case of liquid bubbles, the dissipation method gives an estimation of the rate of total kinetic energy of the flows instead of the drag. When the dynamic effect of the interior flow is negligible but the density is important, this formula for the rate of total kinetic energy leads to where is the density of the fluid (or air) inside the bubble and is the volume of the bubble.

Classical theorems of vorticity for potential flow of ideal fluids hold equally for viscous and viscoelastic fluids. The drag and lift on two-dimensional bodies of arbitrary cross section in viscoelastic potential flow are the same as in potential flow of an inviscid fluid but the moment in a linear viscoelastic fluid is given by

where is the inviscid moment and is the circulation, and

in a second-order fluid. When is slowly varying, the two formulas for coincide. For steady flow, they reduce to

which is also the expression for in both steady and unsteady potential flow of a viscous fluid.

Potential flows of models of a viscoelastic fluid like Maxwell's are studied. These models do not admit potential flows unless the curl of the divergence of the extra-stress vanishes. This leads to an over-determined system of equations for the components of the stress. Special potential flow solutions like uniform flow and simple extension satisfy these extra conditions automatically but other special solutions like the potential vortex can satisfy the equations for some models and not for others.