Polymer Melt Flow in Plane Channels: Effects of the Viscous Dissipation and Axial Heat Conduction

ABSTRACT

The plastic transforming industry has shown considerable growth in the last years. In this context, commercial simulators have been developed, some of which combine simplified mathematical models with rheological properties of commercial polymers. In spite of the successes, these approximations are not able to capture important details of the flow behavior. The present work addresses some aspects of the polymer melt flow in plane channels using a more elaborate mathematical formulation based on the full momentum and energy conservation laws. The physical equations are discretized using finite differences based on a collocated mesh and second-order spatial accuracy formulas. Solutions featuring the development of hydrodynamic and thermal boundary layers are presented for a commercial polymer.