Cessation of viscoplastic Poiseuille flow in a square duct with wall slip

Abstract

We solve numerically the cessation of the pressure-driven Poiseuille flow of a Bingham plastic under the assumption that slip occurs along the wall following a generalized Navier-slip law involving a non-zero slip yield stress. In order to avoid the numerical difficulties caused by their inherent discontinuities, both the constitutive and the slip equations are regularized by means of exponential (Papanastasiou-type) regularizations. As with one-dimensional Poiseuille flows, in the case of Navier slip (zero slip yield stress), the fluid slips at all times, the velocity becomes and remains plug before complete cessation, and the theoretical stopping time is infinite. The cessation of the plug flow is calculated analytically. No stagnant regions appear at the corners when Navier slip is applied. In the case of slip with non-zero slip yield stress, the fluid may slip everywhere or partially at the wall only in the initial stages of cessation depending on the initial condition. Slip ceases at a critical time after which the flow decays exponentially and the stopping times are finite in agreement with theory. The combined effects of viscoplasticity and slip are investigated for wide ranges of the Bingham and slip numbers and results showing the evolution of the yielded and unyielded regions are presented. The numerical results also showed that the use of regularized equations may become problematic near complete cessation or when the velocity profile becomes almost plug. © 2015 Elsevier B.V.