Coil-stretch transition in an ensemble of polymers in isotropic turbulence

Abstract

We study the statistical properties of ensembles of polymers in isotropic turbulence numerically in the one-way coupling regime. A linear polymer chain passively convected by turbulence is modeled by a line of beads, each of which is connected by a finitely extensible nonlinear elastic force and subject to Brownian motion. We find that when the Weissenberg number Wi(η)<1, the polymer chain has a coiled configuration, while for Wi(η)>10, it remains stretched for a much longer time than the typical time scale of the fluctuating turbulent velocity gradient. Various statistical quantities characterizing the ensemble of polymers, such as the mean, variance, autocorrelation time, and probability density function of the end-to-end vector distance, indicate that the coil-stretch transition occurs at Wi(η)=3-4. We also find that this trend is insensitive to the number of beads N(b) ( N(b)=20 or N(b)=2), provided that the parameters in the model with a small number of beads are properly generated from the one with a large number of beads (i.e., using the formula of Jin and Collins). Finally, the Wi(η) effects on the alignment of the end-to-end vector versus the principal axis of the rate of strain tensor and on the polymer elongation are examined from the viewpoint of local flow topology.