A unified view of elastic and elasto-inertial turbulence in channel flows at low and moderate Reynolds numbers

Abstract

The chaotic flow of elastic fluids at low Reynolds number (Re) is typically distinguished into elasto-inertial and elastic turbulence (EIT/ET). However, the clear separation among these two turbulent regimes in parallel flows with a gradual Re decrease remains elusive. Here, spanning Re over four orders of magnitude, we investigate the statistical and structural nature of the flows computed by fully resolved 3D numerical simulations, revealing that as inertia becomes sub-dominant all flows share similar dynamical properties. Supported by the results, we thus propose a unified view of fully developed ET and EIT in parallel flows.

7+6 pages, 3+4 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Coherent structures in plane channel flow of dilute polymer solutions with vanishing inertia
• Scaling and intermittency in turbulent flows of elastoviscoplastic fluids
• Inertial enhancement of the polymer diffusive instability
• Finite-amplitude elastic waves in viscoelastic channel flow from large to zero Reynolds number

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Anomalous Reynolds stress and dynamic mechanisms in two-dimensional elasto-inertial turbulence of viscoelastic channel flow
• Energy, enstrophy and helicity transfers in polymeric turbulence
• Coherent structures in Newtonian and viscoelastic turbulent planar jets