Squeeze film flow of ideal elastic liquids (Q1065648)

An exact solution is presented for the squeeze film flow of an Oldroyd B fluid. The solution demonstrates that the flow kinematics is similar to the Newtonian (or Maxwellian) one. It is shown both theoretically and experimentally that the effect of elasticity in a constant velocity squeeze film flow is to always reduce the load relative to the inelastic (Newtonian) prediction and that this load reduction falls between the upper and lower asymptote prediction by the exact solution for the Oldroyd B fluid. The upper load asymptote is given by the Stefan solution for the viscosity of the polymer solution and the lower asymptote is given by the Stefan solution for the viscosity of the solvent.