Flow assymetry enhanced by viscoelasticity

Viscoelastic flow through a porous medium is a widely researched topic owing to its significance in applied interests. One of the phenomena that draws substantial attention is the development and enhancement of preferential pathways at increasing viscoelasticity of the fluid, which has been demonstrated experimentally and numerically in porous media. Such flow phenomena in geometrically complex media like porous medium are often modelled using simpler structures like confined cylinders. We recognise a gap in these works. The geometries employed in these simplified setups are often symmetric, like the archetypal confined cylinder. This raises the question: how would the introduction of geometric asymmetry affect flow through simple geometries? Additionally, what insights can be gained from this that could be applied to more complex cases? Therefore, in this work, we explore the flow of viscoelastic and shear-thinning viscoelastic fluids using finite-volume numerical simulations in three simple yet asymmetrical geometries involving a flow bifurcation.