Elastohydrodynamic instability of a spinning elastic disk

Abstract

A soft thin elastic disk spinning in a viscous fluid experiences centrifugal tension generated by rotation together with viscous shear generated by the surrounding flow. While the former stabilizes the flat state, the latter can destabilize it. We combine the linearized Föppl-von Kármán equations for a rotating elastic disk with the shear stresses arising from the classical von Kármán swirling flow to derive an elastohydrodynamic stability problem. Linear stability analysis identifies the onset of buckling in terms of two dimensionless control parameters measuring centrifugal stiffening and fluid-induced shear. Above threshold the disk buckles into azimuthally periodic saddle-like modes whose wavenumber increases with increasing rotational tension. The buckled configuration also supports retrograde traveling waves that rotate more slowly than the material frame. These results identify a simple mechanism whereby fluid shear destabilizes rotating elastic structures.