Polymer diffusive instability leading to elastic turbulence in plane Couette flow

Abstract

Elastic turbulence is a chaotic flow state observed in dilute polymer solutions in the absence of inertia. In this paper we show that an infinitesimal amount of polymer diffusion gives raise to a new wall-mode instability. This instability leads to chaotic dynamics in inertialess Couette flow. This new instability might provide a generic transition pathway to elastic and elasto-inertial turbulence.