Transition to Turbulence in Viscoelastic Channel Flow

The influence of viscoelasticity on bypass transition to turbulence in channel flow is studied using data from direct numerical simulations by Agarwal et al. (2014) 1. The initial field is a superposition of a laminar base state and a localized disturbance. Relative to the Newtonian conditions, the polymeric FENE-P flow delays the onset of transition and extends its duration. The former effect is due to a weakening of the pre-transitional disturbance field, while the prolonged transition region is due to a slower spreading rate of the turbulent spots. Once turbulence occupies the full channel, a comparison of the turbulence fields shows that energetic flow structures are longer and wider in the polymeric flow. The final turbulent state is compared to elasto-inertial turbulence (EIT), where the polymer conformation field takes the form of elongated sheets with wide spanwise extent.