On the development of non-Newtonian secondary flows in tubes of non- circular cross-section (Q1060622)

The main aim of this theoretical investigation is to examine more rigorously the rate of normal stresses in the development of secondary flows in tubes of non-circular cross-section. Without making any specific constitutive assumptions, it has been proved that for secondary flows to occur in such tubes the axial velocity must give rise to some non-zero difference in the transverse normal stresses. This criterion is used to investigate the role which the structure of the time derivatives in non- Newtonian fluids of rate and differential types plays in the generation of secondary flow. A surprising result is obtained: by a slight modification in the structure of the convected time rates in such non- Newtonian fluids it is possible to construct a frame-indifferent theory, which is tensorially quadratic but for which rectilinear flows occur in non-circular tubes.