Pressure-driven viscoelastic flow in axisymmetric geometries with application to the hyperbolic pipe

Abstract: We investigate theoretically the steady incompressible viscoelastic flow in a rigid axisymmetric tube (cylindrical pipe) with varying cross-section. We use the Oldroyd-B viscoelastic constitutive equation to model the fluid viscoelasticity. First, we derive new exact results expressed in the form of general formulas: for the average pressure-drop through the pipe as a function of the wall shear rate and the viscoelastic axial normal extra-stress, for the viscoelastic extra-stress tensor at the axis of symmetry and the Trouton ratio of the fluid as function of the fluid velocity at the axis, and for the viscoelastic extra-stress tensor along the wall in terms of the tangential shear rate at the wall. We then proceed by exploiting the classic lubrication approximation, valid for small values of the square of the aspect ratio of the pipe, to simplify the original governing equations. The final equations are solved analytically using a regular perturbation scheme in terms of the Deborah number, De, up to eight order in De. For the specific case of a hyperbolic pipe, we reveal that the pressure-drop and the Trouton ratio (when reduced by their corresponding Newtonian values) can be recast in terms of a modified Deborah number, Dem, and the polymer viscosity ratio, {\eta}, only. Furthermore, we enhance the convergence and accuracy of the eight-order solutions by deriving transformed analytical formulas using Pad\'e diagonal approximants. The results show the decrease of the pressure drop and the enhancement of the Trouton ratio with increasing Dem and/or increasing {\eta}. Comparison of the transformed solutions with numerical simulations of the lubrication equations using pseudospectral methods shows excellent agreement between the results revealing the robustness, validity and efficiency of the theoretical methods and techniques developed in this work.