Simple shear flow of a suspension of fibres in a dilute polymer solution at high Deborah number

Abstract

The behaviour of fibre suspensions in dilute polymer solutions at high Deborah numbers is analysed. In particular, we calculate the change to the extension of the polymers and the orientation of the fibres caused by hydrodynamic interactions between the polymers and the fibres. At a sufficiently high Deborah number the combined effect of the fibre velocity disturbances and the mean shear flow produce a dramatic increase in the extension of the polymers, similar to the coil-stretch transition observed in extensional flow.The non-Newtonian stresses caused by the polymers produce a perturbation to the angular velocity of the fibres, giving rise to a net drift across Jeffery orbits towards the vorticity axis. Unlike the second-order-fluid analysis of Leal (1975), this effect does not depend on the second-normal-stress difference.