On the stability of elastico-viscous flows

Summary The stability ofCouette flow and planePoiseuille flow of an elastico-viscous liquid is analyzed. It is found that in both cases the flow is less stable than that of Newtonian liquids. The critical wave number is also changed due to the elasticity of the liquid. These changes depend on the type of flow under consideration.This work forms a part of the D. Sc. thesis of the first author. The work was supported by the United States Office of Naval Research under Contract N 62558-4093 and by the Technion Research Found.