The aim of this Faraday Partnership project is to develop 2d and 3d finite element simulations of incompressible, slow, viscous multiple-extrusion flows, for shear-thinning power-law fluids such as toothpaste. The results will help to identify novel multiple extrusion opportunties.

Other examples of shear-thinning power-law fluids in the food and cosmetics industries are margarine, molten chocolate, jam, jelly, and cosmetic cold creams. The nonlinearities that are present in such materials mean that the simulation and prediction of flow phenomena in industrially relevant geometries rely on computational tools. This project will advance the quality and accuracy of existing numerical algorithms through the use of state-of-the-art adaptive techniques.

Project staff and support

Janice Giudice (Postgraduate Faraday Associate, University of Oxford)
Endre Suli (Academic Supervisor, University of Oxford)
Jon Chapman (Academic Supervisor, University of Oxford)
Jeff Price (Industrial Supervisor, Unilever Research)
David Allwright (Technology Translator, Smith Institute)

This project is being carried out in the Oxford University Computing Laboratory, in conjunction with Unilever Research, Port Sunlight. It is supported by an EPSRC industrial CASE award, made available through the Faraday Partnership for Industrial Mathematics. Start date: October 2003; duration: 3 years.