Particle Motions in Sheared Suspensions. XXVIII. Configurations of Coiled Fibers in Shear Flow

Abstract

The coiling of elastomer filaments in liquids undergoing shear flow was studied experimentally. In the steady state the rotating coils were stretched along the axes of flow and vorticity, compacted along the third orthogonal axis, and became progressively more entangled as the velocity gradient increased. Although the coils did not possess spherical symmetry, the distribution of end-to-end distances and maximum projected dimensions projected on a given axis or plane corresponded closely to random coiling statistics.