Stream-Tube Method: A Complex-Fluid Dynamics and Computational Approach

This book presents the stream-tube method (STM), a method offering computational means of dealing with the two- and three-dimensional properties of numerous incompressible materials in static and dynamic conditions. The authors show that the kinematics and stresses associated with the flow and deformation in such materials can be treated by breaking the system down into simple computational sub-domains in which streamlines are straight and parallel and using one or two mapping functions in steady-state and non-steady-state conditions. The STM is considered for various problems in non-Newtonian fluid mechanics with different geometries. The book makes use of examples and applications to illustrate the use of the STM. It explores the possibilities of computation on simple mapped rectangular domains and three-dimensional parallel-piped domains under different conditions. Complex materials with memory are considered simply without particle tracking problems. Readers, including researchers, engineers and graduate students, with a foundational knowledge of calculus, linear algebra, differential equations and fluid mechanics will benefit most greatly from this book.