Bubble-induced transition to elasto-inertial turbulence

Interface-resolved direct numerical simulations are performed to investigate bubble-induced transition from a laminar to elasto-inertial turbulent (EIT) state in a pressure-driven viscoelastic square channel flow. The Giesekus model is used to account for the viscoelasticity of the continuous phase, while the dispersed phase is Newtonian. Simulations are performed for both single- and two-phase flows for a wide range of Reynolds (Re) and Weissenberg (Wi) numbers. In the absence of any discrete external perturbations, single-phase viscoelastic flow is transitioned to an EIT regime at a critical Weissenberg number (Wi₂ₑ) that decreases with increasing Re. It is demonstrated that injection of bubbles into a laminar viscoelastic flow introduces streamline curvature that is sufficient to trigger an elastic instability leading to a transition to an EIT regime. The temporal turbulent kinetic energy spectrum shows a scaling of -2 for this multiphase EIT regime, and this scaling is found to be independent of size and number of bubbles injected into the flow. It is also observed that bubbles move towards the channel centreline and form a string-shaped alignment pattern in the core region at the lower values of Re=10 and Wi=1. In this regime, there are disturbances in the core region in the vicinity of bubbles while flow remains essentially laminar. Unlike the solid particles, it is found that increasing shear-thinning effect breaks up the alignment of bubbles.