This paper is concerned with the numerical simulation of the transient effect of an inertialess Boger flow past aconfined circular cylinder and the comparison of predictions with particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements given byShiang et al.

Dynamic simulation based on the Oldroyd-B constitutive model was carried out using a Lagrangian-Eulerianalgorithm. The evolution of velocity field was obtained for the flow at two Deborah (De) numbers

i.e. De = 1.2 and 3.0. Atlow De

the flow reached steady state rapidly

and showed a symmetric flow regime.However

at high De

the time required to reach steady flow behind the cylinder increased significantly

and the distribution of the velocity field appears to be asymmetric with respect to the stagnation line.Pairly good agreement between the numerical results and the experimental observations is reported.It can be concluded that both the experimental measurements and the present simulations indicate that the elasticity of the polymeric flow strongly affect the flow regime of viscoelastic flow around a confined cylinder.