Entrance flows of polymeric materials: Pressure drop and flow patterns

Flow at the entrance of a tube or channel is of interest in many polymer processes. Except for mathematical treatments at high Reynolds numbers and in creeping Newtonian flow, one must turn to empirical correlating equations and qualitative observations. These are discussed in two parts, one on pressure drop and the other on flow patterns. The discussion of pressure drop is largely a review, dealing with inertial, viscous, and elastic contributions to the pressure drop in tapered and sharp‐edged entrances; also presented are new data for a viscoelastic polymer solution in tapered cone entrances. In the section on flow patterns, stress birefringent data for a very elastic solution flowing into a channel entrance show an unusual effect: stress discontinuities, not unlike “shock waves,” upstream and downstream of the entrances. This is in contrast to Newtonian and less elastic materials in which the stress patterns change gradually between the developed flow region and the entrance region.