Flow regimes of a high-viscosity polymer mass bounded by the free surface in the region of drastic expansion of a channel

Flow regimes of the polymer mass filling cylindrical variable-section molds are studied by means of the numerical solution of the problem of a nonlinear viscoplastic fluid flow with a free surface in cylindrical channels of geometrically complicated shapes. A mathematical formulation of the problem is given, and factors affecting the molding process are analyzed. Numerical experiments performed in a wide range of problem parameters make it possible not only to elucidate the specific features of the hydrodynamic behavior of the free surface of the moving polymer mass, but also to establish the existence of two flow regimes depending on the ratio of the generalized Reynolds number to the Froude number.