Numerical simulation of three-dimensional polymer extrusion flow with differential viscoelastic model

The numerical simulation of viscoelastic flow problems is nowadays an effective way of investigating the complex flow mechanism related to practical engineering problems, such as plastic injection, blow molding and extrusion. The mathematical model of a three-dimensional (313) viscoelastic flow in a typical contraction die for polymer extrusion is established and a stable solving method is investigated. The penalty finite element method (FEM) is performed to simulate the viscoelastic melts flow in the channel with a differential constitutive model. The discrete elastic-viscous split stress (DEVSS) formulation and the streamline-upwind Petrov-Galerkin (SUPG) technology are employed to improve the computation stability. Both the implementation of the numerical scheme and its application in the practical process analysis are investigated. The effects of various calculation control parameters and different material parameters upon the numerical results are discussed. The 3D flow patterns in the extrusion die with different contraction angles are further investigated based on the above discussions. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.