Multiscale simulations of viscoelastic fluids in complex geometries using a finitely extensible nonlinear elastic transient network model

This paper presents a novel implementation of a numerical scheme for predicting complex flows of viscoelastic fluids using a finitely extensible nonlinear elastic (FENE) transient network model. This model extends the FENE model by incorporating chain interactions and accounting for the way in which the maximum chain length, drag, and relaxation time are influenced by entanglement and disentanglement processes. Three different initial networks are considered (disentanglement, entanglement, and aleatory), and the influence of variables such as the kinetic rate constants, elasticity, and chain length on the microstate concentration, stresses, and drag force is investigated. It is shown that although the concentrations of the microstates are independent of the Weissenberg number and the maximum extension length, the stresses and hence the drag are influenced by them.