No Arabic abstract
We show that viscoelastic plane Poiseuille flow becomes linearly unstable in the absence of inertia, in the limit of high elasticities, for ultra-dilute polymer solutions. While inertialess elastic instabilities have been predicted for curvilinear shear flows, this is the first ever report of a purely elastic linear instability in a rectilinear shear flow. The novel instability continues upto a Reynolds number ($Re$) of $O(1000)$, corresponding to the recently identified elasto-inertial turbulent state believed to underlie the maximum-drag-reduced regime. Thus, for highly elastic ultra-dilute polymer solutions, a single linearly unstable modal branch may underlie transition to elastic turbulence at zero $Re$, and to elasto-inertial turbulence at moderate $Re$, implying the existence of continuous pathways connecting the turbulent states to each other, and to the laminar base state.
The interplay of inertia and elasticity is shown to have a significant impact on the transport of filamentary objects, modelled by bead-spring chains, in a two-dimensional turbulent flow. We show how elastic interactions amongst inertial beads result in a non-trivial sampling of the flow, ranging from entrapment within vortices to preferential sampling of straining regions. This behavior is quantified as a function of inertia and elasticity and is shown to be very different from free, non-interacting heavy particles, as well as inertialess chains [Picardo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 244501 (2018)]. In addition, by considering two limiting cases, of a heavy-headed and a uniformly-inertial chain, we illustrate the critical role played by the mass distribution of such extended objects in their turbulent transport.
Recently, the nature of viscoelastic drag-reducing turbulence (DRT), especially maximum drag reduction (MDR) state, has become a focus of controversy. It has long been regarded as polymers-modulated inertial turbulence (IT), but is challenged by the newly proposed concept of elasto-inertial turbulence (EIT). This study is to re-picture DRT in parallel plane channels by introducing dynamics of EIT based on statistical and budget analysis for a series of flow regimes from the onset of DR to EIT. Energy conversion between velocity fluctuations and polymers as well as polymeric pressure redistribution effect are of particular concern, based on which a new energy self-sustaining process (SSP) of DRT is re-pictured. The numerical results indicate that at low Reynolds number (Re), the flow enters laminar regime before EIT-related SSP is formed with the increase of elasticity, whereas, at moderate Re, EIT-related SSP can get involved and survive from being relaminarized. This somehow explains the reason why relaminarization is observed for small Re while the flow directly enters MDR and EIT at moderate Re. Moreover, with the proposed energy picture, the newly discovered phenomenon that the streamwise velocity fluctuations lag behind those in wall-normal direction can be well explained. The re-pictured SSP certainly justify that IT nature is gradually replaced by that of EIT in DRT with the increase of elasticity.
The existence of a quiescent core (QC) in the center of turbulent channel flows was demonstrated in recent experimental and numerical studies. The QC-region, which is characterized by relatively uniform velocity magnitude and weak turbulence levels, occupies about $40%$ of the cross-section at Reynolds numbers $Re_tau$ ranging from $1000$ to $4000$. The influence of the QC region and its boundaries on transport and accumulation of inertial particles has never been investigated before. Here, we first demonstrate that a QC is unidentifiable at $Re_tau = 180$, before an in-depth exploration of particle-laden turbulent channel flow at $Re_tau = 600$ is performed. The inertial spheres exhibited a tendency to accumulate preferentially in high-speed regions within the QC, i.e. contrary to the well-known concentration in low-speed streaks in the near-wall region. The particle wall-normal distribution, quantified by means of Voronoi volumes and particle number concentrations, varied abruptly across the QC-boundary and vortical flow structures appeared as void areas due to the centrifugal mechanism. The QC-boundary, characterized by a localized strong shear layer, appeared as a emph{barrier}, across which transport of inertial particles is hindered. Nevertheless, the statistics conditioned in QC-frame show that the mean velocity of particles outside of the QC was towards the core, whereas particles within the QC tended to migrate towards the wall. Such upward and downward particle motions are driven by similar motions of fluid parcels. The present results show that the QC exerts a substantial influence on transport and accumulation of inertial particles, which is of practical relevance in high-Reynolds number channel flow.
Viscoelastic fluids are a common subclass of rheologically complex materials that are encountered in diverse fields from biology to polymer processing. Often the flows of viscoelastic fluids are unstable in situations where ordinary Newtonian fluids are stable, owing to the nonlinear coupling of the elastic and viscous stresses. Perhaps more surprisingly, the instabilities produce flows with the hallmarks of turbulence -- even though the effective Reynolds numbers may be $O(1)$ or smaller. We provide perspectives on viscoelastic flow instabilities by integrating the input from speakers at a recent international workshop: historical remarks, characterization of fluids and flows, discussion of experimental and simulation tools, and modern questions and puzzles that motivate further studies of this fascinating subject. The materials here will be useful for researchers and educators alike, especially as the subject continues to evolve in both fundamental understanding and applications in engineering and the sciences.
We quantify the strength of the waves and their impact on the energy cascade in rotating turbulence by studying the wave number and frequency energy spectrum, and the time correlation functions of individual Fourier modes in numerical simulations in three dimensions in periodic boxes. From the spectrum, we find that a significant fraction of the energy is concentrated in modes with wave frequency $omega approx 0$, even when the external forcing injects no energy directly into these modes. However, for modes for which the period of the inertial waves $tau_omega$ is faster than the turnover time $tau_textrm{NL}$, a significant fraction of the remaining energy is concentrated in the modes that satisfy the dispersion relation of the waves. No evidence of accumulation of energy in the modes with $tau_omega = tau_textrm{NL}$ is observed, unlike what critical balance arguments predict. From the time correlation functions, we find that for modes with $tau_omega < tau_textrm{sw}$ (with $tau_textrm{sw}$ the sweeping time) the dominant decorrelation time is the wave period, and that these modes also show a slower modulation on the timescale $tau_textrm{NL}$ as assumed in wave turbulence theories. The rest of the modes are decorrelated with the sweeping time, including the very energetic modes modes with $omega approx 0$.