Orientation dynamics of a spheroid in the simple shear flow of a weakly elastic fluid

Abstract

We investigate the orientation dynamics of a neutrally buoyant spheroid, of an arbitrary aspect ratio ($\kappa$), freely rotating in a weakly viscoelastic fluid undergoing simple shear flow. Weak elasticity is characterized by a small but finite Deborah number ($De$), and the suspending fluid rheology is therefore modeled as a second-order fluid, with the constitutive equation involving a material parameter $\epsilon$ related to the ratio of the first and second normal stress differences; polymer solutions correspond to $\epsilon\in[-0.7,-0.5]$. Employing a reciprocal theorem formulation, along with expressions for the relevant disturbance fields in terms of vector spheroidal harmonics, we obtain the spheroid angular velocity to $O(De)$. In the Newtonian limit, a spheroid rotates along Jeffery orbits parametrized by an orbit constant $C$, although this closed-trajectory topology is structurally unstable, being susceptible to weak perturbations. For $De$ well below a threshold, $De_c(\kappa)$, weak viscoelasticity transforms the closed-trajectory topology into a tightly spiralling one. A multiple-scales analysis is used to interpret the resulting orientation dynamics in terms of an $O(De)$ orbital drift. The drift in orbit constant over a Jeffery period $\Delta C$, when plotted as a function of $C$, identifies four different orientation dynamics regimes on the $\kappa-\epsilon$ plane. For $\epsilon$ in the polymeric range, prolate spheroids always drift towards the spinning mode. Oblate spheroids drift towards the tumbling mode for $\kappa > \kappa_c(\epsilon)$, but towards an intermediate kayaking mode for $\kappa < \kappa_c(\epsilon)$. The rotation of spheroids of extreme aspect ratios, either slender prolate spheroids ($\kappa \gg 1$) or thin oblate ones ($\kappa \ll 1$), about the vorticity axis, is arrested for $De \geq De_c(\kappa)$