Thermal convection of viscoelastic shear-thinning fluids

Abstract

The Rayleigh-Bénard convection for non-Newtonian fluids possessing both viscoelastic and shear-thinning behaviours is examined. The Phan-Thien-Tanner (PTT) constitutive equation is implemented to model the non-Newtonian character of the fluid. It is found that while the shear-thinning and viscoelastic effects could annihilate one another for the steady roll flow, presence of both behaviours restricts the roll stability limit significantly compared to the cases when the fluid is either inelastic shear-thinning or purely viscoelastic with constant viscosity.