2013/01/08 by Heng-Dong Xi, Eberhard Bodenschatz, Xi, Heng-Dong +3
Chemical Engineering · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #Fluid Dynamics and Turbulent Flows #Phase Equilibria and Thermodynamics #Rheology and Fluid Dynamics Studies #physics.flu-dyn
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1301.1596
15 pages, 5 figures
arxiv created 2013/01/08 · openalex publication_date 2013/01/08 · arxiv updated 2013/01/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In fully developed three dimensional fluid turbulence the fluctuating energy is supplied at large scales, cascades through intermediate scales, and dissipates at small scales. It is the hallmark of turbulence that for intermediate scales, in the so called inertial range, the average energy flux is constant and independent of viscosity [1-3]. One very important question is how this range is altered, when an additional agent that can also transport energy is added to the fluid. Long-chain polymers dissolved at very small concentrations in the fluid are such an agent [4,5]. Based on prior work by de Gennes and Tabor [6,7] we introduce a theory that balances the energy flux through the turbulent cascade with that of the energy flux into the elastic degrees of freedom of the dilute long-chain polymer solution. We propose a refined elastic length scale, rε, which describes the effect of polymer elasticity on the turbulence energy cascade. Our experimental results agree excellently with this new energy flux balance theory.