A theoretical analysis of unsteady incompressible flows for time-dependent constitutive equations based on domain transformations

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an analysis that allows calculation of kinematic histories in unsteady problems of continuum mechanics, in relation to the use of memory-integral constitutive equations. Such cases particularly concern flow conditions of processing rheology, requiring evaluation of strain or deformation rate tensors, for viscoelastic incompressible fluids as polymers. In two- and three-dimensional cases, we apply concepts of the stream-tube method (STM) initially given for stationary conditions, where unknown local or global mapping functions are defined instead of classic velocity–pressure formulations, leading to consider the flow parameters in domains where the streamlines and trajectories are parallel straight lines. The approach enables us to provide accurate formulae for evaluating the kinematics histories that can be used later for computing the stresses for a given memory-integral model.