Spatiotemporal flow instabilities of wormlike micellar solutions in rectangular microchannels

Abstract

Flow velocimetry measurements are made on a non-shear-banding wormlike micellar solution within high-aspect-ratio rectilinear microchannels over a wide range of imposed steady flow rates. At the lowest and highest flow rates tested, Newtonian-like velocity profiles are measured. However, at intermediate flow rates the velocity field never stabilizes on the timescale of the experiments (up to several hours). Here, spatiotemporally dependent jets of high velocity fluid are observed to fluctuate within regions of essentially stagnant fluid. The reason for this flow instability remains undetermined, but it has significant consequences for many industrial applications and also for microfluidic rheometry of complex fluids.