Analysis of transitional polymeric flows and elastic instabilities

The dynamics of turbulence generated and controlled by polymer additives is investigated from the perspective of the coupling between polymer dynamics and flow structures. Direct numerical simulations of channel flow with Reynolds numbers ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 (based on the bulk and the channel height) are used to study the formation and dynamics of elastic instabilities and their effects on the flow. The resulting mechanism of interactions between polymer dynamics and the flow helps resolve a long-standing controversy in the understanding of polymer drag reduction and explains the phenomenon of early turbulence, or onset of turbulence at lower Reynolds numbers than for Newtonian flows, previously observed in polymeric flows.