Axial Couette flow of an Oldroyd-B fluid in an annulus

This paper establishes the velocity field and the adequate shear stress corresponding to the motion of an Oldroyd-B fluid between two infinite coaxial circular cylinders by means of finite Hankel transforms. The flow of the fluid is produced by the inner cylinder which applies a time-dependent longitudinal shear stress to the fluid. The exact analytical solutions, presented in series form in terms of Bessel functions, satisfy all imposed initial and boundary conditions. The general solutions can be easily specialized to give similar solutions for Maxwell, second grade and Newtonian fluids performing the same motion. Finally, some characteristics of the motion as well as the influence of the material parameters on the behavior of the fluid motion are graphically illustrated. (C) 2012 The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.