Interface determination in bicomponent extrusion

Abstract The unidirectional flow of two immiscible fluids with different viscosities in a long die of arbitrary shape is considered. Mathematically, the problem has a continuum of solutions corresponding to arbitrarily prescribed interface shapes, but experimental evidence indicates the existence of a unique interface shape with the less viscous fluid encapsulating the more viscous fluid. With the introduction of the minimum viscous dissipation principle, which postulates that the amount of viscous dissipation is minimized for a given flow rate, the problem becomes a nonlinearly constrained optimization problem. A generalized reduced gradient/finite element method combination is used to predict the interface shape when two inelastic fluids are considered. The effect of the viscosity ratio and flow‐rate ratio on the interface shape is examined for different die geometries. Inner layer breakup phenomena are predicted and explained for complex die geometries.