Change of type and loss of evolution in the flow of viscoelastic fluids (Q581127)

Certain aspects of viscosity, elasticity, hyperbolicity, Hadamard instability and ill-posed Cauchy problems in viscoelastic fluid flows with zero retardation are discussed by considering some examples. It is shown that some models are always evolutionary and do not change type in unsteady flows; the vorticity equation for steady flow of such models can and does change type. Other models can become non-evolutionary and therefore undergo Hadamard instability. Whether the flow is evolutionary or not, the steady problem can undergo a change of type. Loss of evolution cannot occur in flows perturbing uniform motion and it can therefore be identified with the problem of failure of numerical simulations at high Weissenberg numbers.