Anomalous shear banding: multidimensional dynamics under fluctuating slip conditions

The strain-controlled flow of a wormlike micellar solution in cylindrical Couette geometries with smooth and rough glass inner walls is investigated using 2D H-1 NMR velocimetry. We find anomalous shear banding in which fluctuating slip dynamics in combination with surfactant properties lead to a non-lever rule behaviour where the interface position remains constant while the high and low shear rates change. Velocities in the flow direction are imaged in the flow-gradient/vorticity plane. The spatiotemporal resolution achieved reveals fluctuations in flow structure along the vorticity axis and instability of the high shear band.