Defect-mediated turbulence in ribbons of viscoelastic Taylor-Couette flow

Noureddine Latrache (1) , Nizar Abcha (2) , Olivier Crumeyrolle (3) , Innocent Mutabazi (3)

1 IRDL - Institut de Recherche Dupuy de Lôme
2 M2C - Morphodynamique Continentale et Côtière
3 LOMC - Laboratoire Ondes et Milieux Complexes

Transition to defect-mediated turbulence in the ribbon patterns observed in a viscoelastic Taylor-Couette flow is investigated when the rotation rate of the inner cylinder is increased while the outer cylinder is fixed. In four polymer solutions with different values of the elasticity number, the defects appear just above the onset of the ribbon pattern and trigger the appearance of disordered oscillations when the rotation rate is increased. The flow structure around the defects is determined and the statistical properties of these defects are analyzed in the framework of the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation.

Domaines: Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]; Océanographie

Noureddine Latrache, Nizar Abcha, Olivier Crumeyrolle, Innocent Mutabazi. Defect-mediated turbulence in ribbons of viscoelastic Taylor-Couette flow. Physical Review E , 2016, 93 (4), pp.043126. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevE.93.043126⟩. ⟨hal-01537639⟩