Elastic pseudoturbulence induced by low-Galilei settling spheres

In this Letter, we show how a suspension of light solid spheres settling through a polymer solution results in a chaotic and highly-intermittent state.

By leveraging particle-resolved direct numerical simulations, we investigate the effect of increasing polymer relaxation time and Deborah number $De$ on viscoelastic sedimentation at a low density ratio $\rho_s/\rho_f=5$ and a low Galilei number $Ga=3.16$.

Even at moderate $De$, the spheres form gravity-aligned clusters and settle faster, while the polymer stresses energize the large scales of motion.

The onset of elastic turbulence and intermittency is signaled by a $-4$ spectral scaling in the high-wavenumber range and by nonlinear high-order exponents of the velocity structure functions.

These results indicate that viscoelastic effects induce pseudoturbulence in the presence of viscous-dominated sedimentation.