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Characterizing elastic turbulence in channel flows at low Reynolds number

Boyang Qin and Paulo E. Arratia

  • Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA

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Phys. Rev. Fluids 2, 083302 – Published 10 August, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.2.083302

Abstract

We experimentally investigate the flow of a viscoelastic fluid in a parallel shear geometry at low Reynolds number. As the flow becomes unstable via a nonlinear subcritical instability, velocimetry measurements show nonperiodic fluctuations over a broad range of frequencies and wavelengths, consistent with the main features of elastic turbulence. Using the same experimental setup, we compare these features to those in the flow around cylinders, which is upstream of the parallel shear region; we find significant differences in power spectrum scaling, intermittency statistics, and flow structures. We propose a simple mechanism to explain the growth of velocity fluctuations in parallel shear flows based on polymer stretching due to fluctuations in streamwise velocity gradients.

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Phys. Rev. Fluids 2, 083302– Published 10 August, 2017
  • Received 14 September 2016
Article part of CHORUS

©2017 American Physical Society

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