A new approach for studying the hydrodynamic stability of fluids with microstructure

A new methodology for studying the stability of fluids with microstructure has been developed. This technique relies on combining continuum based conservation equations and stochastic simulation techniques to determine the hydrodynamic stability of flows under consideration. To illustrate the capability of the method, the stability of viscoelastic Taylor-Couette flow has been examined. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.