Low inertia limit of elasto-inertial turbulence
Abstract
Pipe and channel flows of viscoelastic fluids display chaotic dynamics at unusually low speeds, a phenomenon referred to as elasto-inertial turbulence, EIT. First reported in experiments a century ago, recent theoretical studies and model computations predict a variety of scenarios for the phenomenon's origin, ranging from hoop stress modes to center modes and to Tollmien-Schlichting waves. Lacking experimental confirmation, the relevant scenario in actual flows of polymer solutions remains unknown. We here determine the transition threshold of EIT in pipe experiments, covering three decades in elasticity number. Across this entire parameter range, the transition features center mode structures at onset. Eventually the instability diverges at a lower inertia (upper elasticity) limit, which is a robust signature of this center mode scenario. Finally, we report the first experimental observation of a traveling wave in viscoelastic pipe flow, and the sequences of localized structures found, are in excellent agreement with a center mode traveling wave, the "arrowhead" solution, discovered in model simulations.
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BibTeX
@misc{kamil2026inertia,
title = {{Low inertia limit of elasto-inertial turbulence}},
author = {Shoaib Kamil and Sarath Sankar Suresh and Jose M. Lopez and Björn Hof},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.11581},
eprint = {2609.11581},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11581},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Low inertia limit of elasto-inertial turbulence
AU - Shoaib Kamil
AU - Sarath Sankar Suresh
AU - Jose M. Lopez
AU - Björn Hof
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/10
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.11581
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11581
AB - Pipe and channel flows of viscoelastic fluids display chaotic dynamics at unusually low speeds, a phenomenon referred to as elasto-inertial turbulence, EIT. First reported in experiments a century ago, recent theoretical studies and model computations predict a variety of scenarios for the phenomenon's origin, ranging from hoop stress modes to center modes and to Tollmien-Schlichting waves. Lacking experimental confirmation, the relevant scenario in actual flows of polymer solutions remains unknown. We here determine the transition threshold of EIT in pipe experiments, covering three decades in elasticity number. Across this entire parameter range, the transition features center mode structures at onset. Eventually the instability diverges at a lower inertia (upper elasticity) limit, which is a robust signature of this center mode scenario. Finally, we report the first experimental observation of a traveling wave in viscoelastic pipe flow, and the sequences of localized structures found, are in excellent agreement with a center mode traveling wave, the "arrowhead" solution, discovered in model simulations.
ER -