Global Existence Result for the Generalized Peterlin Viscoelastic Model

We consider a class of differential models of viscoelastic fluids with diffusive stress. These constitutive models are motivated by Peterlin dumbbell theories with a nonlinear spring law for an infinitely extensible spring. A diffusion term is included in the constitutive model. Under appropriate assumptions on the nonlinear constitutive functions, we prove global existence of weak solutions for large data. For creeping flows and two-dimensional flows, we prove global existence of a classical solution under stronger assumptions.