Mechanics of Non–Newtonian Fluids
Κ. R. Rajagopal
Abstract
The terminology non-Newtonian fluids can apply to a wide range of materials with widely disparate material structure, the main shared characteristic being the inability of the classical linearly viscous Newtonian model to capture the behavior of these fluids. Polymeric liquids, biological fluids, slurries, suspensions, liquid crystals are but some of the materials which belong to the class of non-Newtonian fluids. There are some materials which when subjected to shear stress flow only after a critical value is reached. A detailed and comprehensive critique of the thermodynamics of fluids of the differential type can be found in the recent work of Dunn and Rajagopa. There are many fluids of the rate type that have been proposed to model behavior of non-Newtonian fluids. In general, unless the flow field is extremely simple the problems are tremendously daunting and can at best be resolved numerically.