AbstractThe translational diffusion coefficientD, needed in treatments of flow‐induced polymer migration phenomena, is studied. Explicit results are reported for bead–spring model macromolecules with two, three, and four beads, respectively. If the number of beads is large, an integral formulation is used. The results obtained show thatDdepends upon the hydrodynamic interaction parametersh*andh*N1/2. Nondraining behavior ofDis predicted irrespective ofhifh*is close to 0.2357. Approximations forDare obtained and the error involved is estima