Friction dynamics of elasto-inertial turbulence in Taylor-Couette flow of viscoelastic fluids

• Main Authors: Moazzen, Masoud, Lacassagne, Tom, Thomy, Vincent, Bahrani, S. Amir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 05-01-2023
• Subjects: Physics - Fluid Dynamics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2301.02047

Dynamic properties of elasto-inertial turbulence (EIT) are studied in a
Taylor-Couette geometry. EIT is a chaotic flow state that develops upon both
non-negligible inertia and viscoelasticity. A combination of direct flow
visualisation and torque measurement allows to verify the earlier onset of EIT
compared to purely inertial instabilities (and inertial turbulence). The
scaling of the pseudo-Nusselt number with inertia and elasticity is discussed
here for the first time. Variations in the friction coefficient, temporal
frequency spectra, and spatial power density spectra highlight that EIT
undergoes an intermediate behavior before transitioning to its fully developed
chaotic state that requires both high inertia and elasticity. During this
transition the contribution of secondary flows to the overall friction dynamics
is limited. This is expected to be of great interest in the aim of achieving
efficiency mixing at low drag and low but finite Reynolds number.