The Faraday instability in wormlike micelle solutions

Abstract

The behaviour of semi-dilute wormlike micelle solutions under vertical vibrations is investigated using classical measurements of the Faraday instability threshold along with two new experiments based on particle imaging velocimetry and birefringence. We provide evidence for the presence of oscillations of the critical acceleration and wave number with the vibration frequency, which are linked to oscillations of the velocity and birefringence fields along the vertical direction. These observations are interpreted in terms of standing elastic waves across the fluid layer. Such an interpretation is confirmed numerically by using the model proposed by S. Kumar [Phys. Rev. E 65, 026305 (2002)] for a viscoelastic fluid to calculate the velocity and deformation fields. Finally, further birefringence experiments above the instability threshold show that the Faraday instability does not induce disentanglement and breakage of the micellar network.

27 pages, 13 figures

References in corpus (8)

• Superlattice Patterns in Surface Waves
• Amplitude equations and pattern selection in Faraday waves
• Faraday waves on a viscoelastic liquid
• Persistent holes in a fluid
• Amplitude measurements of Faraday waves
• Signature of elasticity in the Faraday instability
• Faraday Instability in a Surface-Frozen Liquid
• Delay of Disorder by Diluted Polymers

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Shear-induced transitions and instabilities in surfactant wormlike micelles
• Surfactant micelles: model systems for flow instabilities of complex fluids
• Hysteretic Faraday Waves
• Interplay between a hydrodynamic instability and a phase transition: the Faraday instability in dispersions of rodlike colloids