Synopsis This paper develops a model for fast filament stretching, thinning, and break-up for Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, and the results are compared against experimental data where fast filament relaxation occurs. A 1D approximation was coupled with the arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) formulation to perform simulations that captured both filament thinning and break-up. The modeling accounts for both the initial polymer stretching processes from the precise movement of the two

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... g pistons and also the subsequent thinning when the pistons are at rest. The simulations were first validated for a low viscosity Newtonian fluid matched to experimental data obtained from a recently developed apparatus, the Cambridge Trimaster. A non-Newtonian polymer fluid, with high frequency linear viscoelastic behavior characterized using a piezoaxial vibrator rheometer, was modeled using both an Oldroyd-B and FENE-CR single-mode constitutive models. The simulations of the filament deformation were compared with experiment. The simulations showed a generally reasonable agreement with both the stretch and subsequent relaxation experimental responses, although the mono mode models used in this paper were unable to capture all of the details for the experimental time evolution relaxation profile of the central filament diameter. V C 2012 The Society of Rheology.