Flow regimes in model viscoelastic fluids in a circular couette system with independently rotating cylinders

• Published in: Physics of fluids (1994) 1997-03, Vol.9 (3), p.566-586
• Main Authors: Baumert, Brandon Max, Muller, Susan J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1070-6631; 1089-7666
• DOI: 10.1063/1.869209

Flow visualization of two highly elastic, nonshear-thinning polyisobutylene/polybutene fluids in the gap between concentric cylinders was performed over a range of shear rates and choices of relative cylinder rotations. The observed secondary flows are discussed in terms of destabilizing elastic and centrifugal forces. In the more viscous, more elastic fluid, instabilities are found to be independent of the choice of rotating cylinder and due entirely to elasticity. At the lowest shear rates examined, the first detectable secondary flows are steady counter-rotating vortices forming after a shearing time more than five orders of magnitude greater than the characteristic relaxation time of the fluid. At somewhat higher shear rates, a much more rapidly appearing oscillatory flow is observed to evolve into the steady vortex structure. In the less elastic fluid, the structure first detectable at the lowest shear rates is again steady vortices regardless of the choice of driving cylinder. At all shear rates examined, only elastic stationary vortices are observed in the absence of centrifugal destabilization (outer cylinder rotating). Secondary flows are significantly stronger in the presence of the centrifugal destabilization due to a rotating inner cylinder. Interaction of elasticity and centrifugal forces is found to generate a number of axially translating vortex structures, many of which are described here for the first time. At a shear rate more than five times the critical, another family of instability is observed which closely resembles a purely elastic instability observed by Baumert and Muller (1995). These experimental results are expected to provide a challenging test of numerical simulations of these viscoelastic flows.