Elastic Turbulence: An Experimental View on Inertialess Random Flow

A viscous solvent laminar flow may be strongly modified by the addition of a tiny amount of long polymer molecules, resulting in a chaotic flow called elastic turbulence (ET). ET is attributed to polymer stretching, which generates elastic stress and its back reaction on the flow. Its properties are...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of fluid mechanics 2021-01, Vol.53 (1), p.27-58
Main Author: Steinberg, Victor
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
coil-stretch transition
elastic instabilities
elastic turbulence
elastic waves
inertial effect in elastic turbulence
wall-dominated elastic turbulence
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Summary:A viscous solvent laminar flow may be strongly modified by the addition of a tiny amount of long polymer molecules, resulting in a chaotic flow called elastic turbulence (ET). ET is attributed to polymer stretching, which generates elastic stress and its back reaction on the flow. Its properties are analogous to those observed in hydrodynamic turbulence, although the formal similarity does not imply a similarity in physical mechanisms underlining these two types of random motion. Here we review the statistical and spectral properties and the spatial structure of the velocity field, the statistical and spectral properties of pressure fluctuations, and scaling of the friction factor of ET in wall-bounded and unbounded flow geometries, as observed in experiments and numerical simulations and described by theory for a wide range of control parameters and polymer concentrations.
ISSN:0066-4189
1545-4479
DOI:10.1146/annurev-fluid-010719-060129