Centrifugal instability of pulsed Taylor-Couette flow in a Maxwell fluid.

Abstract

Centrifugal instability of a pulsed flow in a viscoelastic fluid confined in a Taylor-Couette system is investigated. Both cylinders are subject to an out-of-phase modulation of rotation with equal modulation amplitude and modulation frequency. The fluid is assumed to obey a linear Maxwell fluid with a relaxation time and a constant viscosity. Attention is focused on the linear stability analysis and on the effect of Deborah and frequency numbers on the critical values of the Taylor and wave numbers. Using Floquet theory, we show that in the limit of low frequency, the Deborah number has no effect on the stability of the basic state which tends to the classical configuration of steady circular Couette flow. When the frequency number increases, the stability of the basic flow is enhanced and the Deborah number has a destabilizing effect which is strongly pronounced in the high-frequency limit. In this frequency limit, the critical parameters tend to constant values independently of the frequency number. These numerical results are in good agreement with the asymptotic solutions obtained in the limit of low and high frequencies. Moreover, a correlation between the rheological proprieties of the fluid in a rheometric experience, especially the loss and storage modulus, and this hydrodynamical instability behavior is presented.