Experimental evidence of symmetry-breaking supercritical transition in pipe flow of shear-thinning fluids

Experimental results reveal that the asymmetric flow of shear-thinning fluid through a cylindrical pipe, which was previously associated with the laminar-turbulent transition process, appears to have the characteristics of a nonhysteretic, supercritical instability of the laminar base state. Contrary to what was previously believed, classical transition is found to be responsible for returning symmetry to the flow. An absence of evidence of the instability in simulations (either linear or nonlinear) suggests that an element of physics is lacking in the commonly used rheological model for inelastic shear-thinning fluids. These unexpected discoveries raise new questions regarding the stability of these practically important fluids and how they can be successfully modeled.