Shear-thinning mediation of elasto-inertial Taylor-Couette flow

We study the shear-thinning mediation of elasto-inertial transitions in Taylor-Couette flow of viscoelastic polymer solutions. Two types of high molecular weight polymers are used at various concentrations and in water-glycerol solvents of various viscosities. This allows us to access a wide range of elastic numbers and effective shear-thinning indices. Conservative ramp-up (slow acceleration of the inner cylinder and subsequent increase in Reynolds number) and steady-state (constant rotation speed) experiments are performed, in which the flow is monitored continuously using flow visualisation. Depending on the shear-thinning and elastic properties of the working fluid, very different behaviours are observed. In almost constant-viscosity fluids (Boger fluids), or shear-thinning fluids with significant elasticity, the flow transitions from purely azimuthal Couette flow (CF) to a highly chaotic flow state referred to as elasto-inertial turbulence (EIT) via Taylor vortex flow (TVF) and elasto-inertial rotating spiral waves (RSW). When the degree of shear-thinning is increased and elasticity reduced, elastic waves or EIT may fade to a wavy Taylor vortex flow (WTVF) with increasing inertia. Significant shear-thinning leads to a delay in the onset of EIT. Remarkably, in some highly shear-thinning cases, even with a significant elasticity, elastic flow features (EIT, RSW) are completely suppressed, and the flow exhibits a 'Newtonian-like' transition sequence (CF-TVF-WTVF). Shear-thinning acts to modify, delay, or even completely suppress elasto-inertial behaviours (RSW, EIT), that would otherwise have existed in the absence of shear-thinning. It is, thus, possible to induce various hydrodynamic regimes by tuning the relative degrees of shear-thinning, elasticity and inertia.