A SIMPLIFIED METHOD FOR INTRODUCING THE CROSS VISCOSITY LAW IN THE NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF HELE-SHAW FLOW

The aim of this paper is to analyse the influence of the polymer visco sity on the flow during the injection moulding process. A new method h as been developed in order to easily represent a viscosity law exhibit ing a Newtonian plateau at low shear rates, and a power-law dependence at high shear rates. In particular, the Cross law can be used without involving a dramatic increase of the computational cost through multi ple quadratures in the gapwise direction during pressure calculations. Several examples are analysed and discussed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scienc e B.V.