(366f) Modeling Polymer Fluid Flow and Reaction with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Our research in the CFD simulation and modeling of complex polymeric fluids started in the area of turbulent drag reduction, a phenomena known for over 7 decades. A small quantity of flexible polymer additives can drastically reduce the friction loss of turbulent flow. Drag-reducing polymers are widely used in the transportation of crude oil as well as in the drilling and oil recovery of reservoirs. We use direct numerical simulation to study the fluid flow of such dilute polymer solutions with a viscoelastic constitutive equation, from which much fundamental insight into the polymer effects on turbulent structure and dynamics are obtained. Our recent efforts have expanded to the CFD modeling of polymer reaction engineering, where the complex coupling between mixing, heat transfer, and reaction kinetics is critical to the control of process outcome. Applying CFD to a stirred-tank reactor, we are studying the effects of process design and operating conditions on the conversion rate, polymer molecular weight distribution, and monomer composition in copolymers. This presentation will give an overview of our research efforts in these areas.