Elastic waves in a Hele-Shaw cell with a co-moving Kelvin-Helmholtz-like parallel shear flow

Abstract: We report the presence of traveling Elastic Waves in experiments featuring a shear flow in the very low Reynolds number regime (Re < 0.1) with no external curvatures or internal perturbations in the channel design. The classic Kelvin-Helmholtz type shear flow with an inflection point in its velocity profile is generated by co-moving dilute polymeric solutions moving at different speeds within a Hele-Shaw cell. Notably, this is the first observation of Elastic waves in straight channels, with no internal or external wall curvatures or physical perturbation sources present in the flow or on the channel walls, making the differential velocity of the parallel streams the only possible source of generation of Elastic Waves. The interface between the co-moving streams displays a wavy and unsteady nature for all studied cases. Furthermore, the frequency and wave speed of the Elastic Waves are found to scale with the Weissenberg number, which is based on the velocity difference between the streams. This finding contributes to the emerging body of evidence regarding the presence of Elastic Waves in straight channels with minimal perturbation sources (Steinberg 2022).