Faraday instability with a polymer solution

We present an experimental study of the Faraday instability in which we compare the behavior of a Newtonian fluid (water-glycerine mixture) with that of a semi-dilute non-Newtonian solution of high molecular weight polymer. We show that although the dispersion relation of surface waves, derived for a layer of inviscid fluid, remains valid in that particular non-Newtonian case, the behavior of the instability threshold with frequency strongly differs from the Newtonian case. We explain this effect as a result of a frequency-dependent viscosity. The linear stability analysis of the non-Newtonian case shows a perfect agreement with the experimental results both for the dispersion relation and for the reduction of the instability threshold. We discuss the use of the characteristics of the Faraday experiment as a measurement tool to determine frequency dependent properties of non-Newtonian fluids.