Keywords: Elasticity, viscoelastic instability, nonlinear transitions,
drag-reducing polymers
Abstract: Taylor-Couette flow (i.e., flow between concentric, rotating
cylinders) has long served as a paradigm for studies of
hydrodynamic stability. For Newtonian fluids, the rich cascade
of transitions from laminar, Couette flow to turbulent flow
occurs through a set of well-characterized flow states that
depend on the Reynolds numbers of both the inner and outer