Transition to Mixing and Oscillations in a Stokesian Viscoelastic Flow

Authors

Becca Thomases, University of California, DavisFollow
Michael Shelley, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-26-2009

Publication Title

Physical Review Letters

Abstract

In seeking to understand experiments on low-Reynolds-number mixing and flow transitions in viscoelastic fluids, we simulate the dynamics of the Oldroyd-B model, with a simple background force driving the flow. We find that at small Weissenberg number, flows are "slaved" to the extensional geometry imposed by forcing. For large Weissenberg number, such solutions become unstable and transit to a structurally dissimilar state dominated by a single large vortex. This new state can show persistent oscillatory behavior with the production and destruction of smaller-scale vortices that drive mixing.

Volume

103

Issue

9

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.094501

ISSN

00319007

Rights

© 2009 The American Physical Society.

Comments

Archived as published.

Recommended Citation

Thomases, Becca and Shelley, Michael, "Transition to Mixing and Oscillations in a Stokesian Viscoelastic Flow" (2009). Mathematics Sciences: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/mth_facpubs/171