The authors present an approximation theory for thin filaments, fibers
or jets which yields families of transient 1-D models (time-dependent
, one-dimensional, closed systems of PDEs). The spatial reduction from
three dimensions to one is achieved by axisymmetry together with a lo
cal expansion in the radial jet coordinate; this reduction is in contr
ast to the predominant viscoelastic models in the literature which ave
rage out the radial dimension and thereby require moment equations for
the computation of higher order corrections. The authors also allow t
orsional how effects, which are usually ignored, in a general Johnson-
Segalman constitutive law. A formal perturbation theory, based on a sl
enderness parameter and a compatible velocity-pressure-stress ansatz,
is then constructed for the full 3-D free surface boundary problem. Th
is formalism contains all 1-D transient models that govern slender axi
symmetric flows of inviscid, viscous, or viscoelastic fluids; specific
models follow by positing the dominant balance of physical effects wi
thin this framework. The authors' previous applied papers based on thi
s theory have analyzed various torsionless models. In this paper, they
select a strongly elastic, torsional example in order to study the be
havior of solutions through three orders in the perturbation expansion
, illustrating passive as well as strongly destabilizing torsional cou
pling.