Knife-bladed vortices in non-Newtonian fluids

E Freyssingeas (1) , D Frelat (1) , Y Dossmann (1) , J.-C Géminard (1)

1 Phys-ENS - Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS Lyon

A tank is filled with a non-Newtonian fluid. We report on the deformation of the free surface resulting from the presence of an underlying vortex. In a tiny range of the experimental parameters, the flow spontaneously loses its initial axi-symmetry, leading to the formation of a stationary knife-bladed vortex. We report on the series of patterns observed experimentally and summarize the conditions of the existence of the latter by establishing a state diagram.

Domaines: Physique Générale [physics.gen-ph]

E Freyssingeas, D Frelat, Y Dossmann, J.-C Géminard. Knife-bladed vortices in non-Newtonian fluids. Papers in physics, 2016, 8, pp.080007. ⟨10.4279/pip.080007⟩. ⟨hal-01417929⟩