Studies of Interfacial Wave Properties During Displacement with Pure Viscoelastic Fluids in Microchannels

In this study, new experimental data for the displacement of a Newtonian liquid by three pure viscoelastic (Boger) fluids with different relaxation times were obtained with imaging in a 500 mu m microchannel. Results were compared against those from displacement using a Newtonian liquid. Small irregular waves were observed at the interface for the Newtonian displacement, while periodic instabilities were seen for all Boger fluid cases. The elastic Mach number (Ma), describing the ratio of the flow velocity with the elastic wave propagation velocity, was found to be the key parameter for correlating the wave properties in the case of Boger fluids. The amplitude of the wavy interface initially increased up to Ma = 0.5, before decreasing again. The frequency and the wave velocity increased monotonically with increasing Ma. For all configurations, a phase shift of pi was found between the top and the bottom interfaces. Correlations from experimental data were developed for all wave properties. Based on these correlations, an empirical wave model was developed to describe the observed planar images and to reconstruct the three-dimensional waves, which resemble a helical structure.