ASYMPTOTIC ANALYSIS OF THE FINITE CONE-AND-PLATE FLOW OF A NON-NEWTONIAN FLUID

Consider the shearing flow of a viscoelastic fluid trapped by surface tension between a cone and a plate. An asymptotic analysis of this problem in the limit of small gap angle has been done. This limit is realized in many practical situations. It is assumed that the Deborah number De, the Reynolds number Re, and the retardation parameter beta are all order unity and that the shape of the free surface is very nearly spherical. Closed form analytic expressions are obtained for the leading terms of the primary and weak secondary motion of the fluid as well as the meniscus shape. It is found that the velocity field is bounded and continuous if and only if betaDe < pi/square-root 2. There is a family of curves in the De-beta plane on which the velocity field has a removable singularity at the origin. The secondary flow is made up of either one or two toroidal vortices. The meniscus has a bulge near the rotating cone and a trough near the stationary plate.