Elastic turbulence in 2D viscoelastic flows

It is well known that the addition of small amounts of long chain polymers produces dramatic effects on flowing fluids. A remarkable effect, recently observed experimentally, is the onset of ”elastic turbulence” in the limit of very low Reynolds number Re, provided elasticity is high enough [1]. In this regime, the polymer solution displays features typical of turbulent flows. Consequently, elastic turbulence has been proposed as an efficient technique for mixing in very low Re flows as, e. g., microchannel flows [2]. Despite its wide technological interest, elastic turbulence is still poorly understood from a theoretical point of view. Recent predictions are based on simplified versions of viscoelastic models and on the analogy with MHD equations [3]. In this study we investigate the phenomenology of elastic turbulence by means of direct numerical simulations (DNS). The remarkable agreement with experimental results suggests the possibility to understand elastic turbulence on the basis of known viscoelastic models.