Forward roll coating flows of viscoelastic liquids

Forward roll coating flow is analyzed here with two differential constitutive models, the Oldroyd-B and the FENE-P equations. The results show that the elastic stresses change the flow near the film splitting meniscus by reducing and eventually eliminating the recirculation present at low capillary number. When the recirculation disappears, the difference of the tangential and normal stresses (i.e., the hoop stress) at the free surface becomes positive and grows dramatically with fluid elasticity, which explains how viscoelasticity destabilizes the flow in terms of the analysis of Graham [M.D. Graham, Interfacial hoop stress and instability of viscoelastic free surface flows, Phys. Fluids 15 (2003) 1702-1710].