No Arabic abstract
We obtain, by extensive direct numerical simulations, trajectories of heavy inertial particles in two-dimensional, statistically steady, homogeneous, and isotropic turbulent flows, with friction. We show that the probability distribution function $mathcal{P}(kappa)$, of the trajectory curvature $kappa$, is such that, as $kappa to infty$, $mathcal{P}(kappa) sim kappa^{-h_{rm r}}$, with $h_{rm r} = 2.07 pm 0.09$. The exponent $h_{rm r}$ is universal, insofar as it is independent of the Stokes number ($rm{St}$) and the energy-injection wave number. We show that this exponent lies within error bars of their counterparts for trajectories of Lagrangian tracers. We demonstrate that the complexity of heavy-particle trajectories can be characterized by the number $N_{rm I}(t,{rm St})$ of inflection points (up until time $t$) in the trajectory and $n_{rm I} ({rm St}) equiv lim_{ttoinfty} frac{N_{rm I} (t,{rm St})}{t} sim {rm St}^{-Delta}$, where the exponent $Delta = 0.33 pm0.02$ is also universal.
We numerically investigate the spatial and temporal statistical properties of a dilute polymer solution in the elastic turbulence regime, i.e., in the chaotic flow state occurring at vanishing Reynolds and high Weissenberg numbers. We aim at elucidating the relations between measurements of flow properties performed in the spatial domain with the ones taken in the temporal domain, which is a key point for the interpretation of experimental results on elastic turbulence and to discuss the validity of Taylors hypothesis. To this end, we carry out extensive direct numerical simulations of the two-dimensional Kolmogorov flow of an Oldroyd-B viscoelastic fluid. Static point-like numerical probes are placed at different locations in the flow, particularly at the extrema of mean flow amplitude. The results in the fully developed elastic turbulence regime reveal large velocity fluctuations, as compared to the mean flow, leading to a partial breakdown of Taylors frozen-field hypothesis. While second-order statistics, probed by spectra and structure functions, display consistent scaling behaviors in the spatial and temporal domains, the third-order statistics highlight robust differences. In particular the temporal analysis fails to capture the skewness of streamwise longitudinal velocity increments. Finally, we assess both the degree of statistical inhomogeneity and isotropy of the flow turbulent fluctuations as a function of scale. While the system is only weakly non-homogenous in the cross-stream direction, it is found to be highly anisotropic at all scales.
In this work, the scaling statistics of the dissipation along Lagrangian trajectories are investigated by using fluid tracer particles obtained from a high resolution direct numerical simulation with $Re_{lambda}=400$. Both the energy dissipation rate $epsilon$ and the local time averaged $epsilon_{tau}$ agree rather well with the lognormal distribution hypothesis. Several statistics are then examined. It is found that the autocorrelation function $rho(tau)$ of $ln(epsilon(t))$ and variance $sigma^2(tau)$ of $ln(epsilon_{tau}(t))$ obey a log-law with scaling exponent $beta=beta=0.30$ compatible with the intermittency parameter $mu=0.30$. The $q$th-order moment of $epsilon_{tau}$ has a clear power-law on the inertial range $10<tau/tau_{eta}<100$. The measured scaling exponent $K_L(q)$ agrees remarkably with $q-zeta_L(2q)$ where $zeta_L(2q)$ is the scaling exponent estimated using the Hilbert methodology. All these results suggest that the dissipation along Lagrangian trajectories could be modelled by a multiplicative cascade.
We analyze the vector nulls of velocity, Lagrangian acceleration, and vorticity, coming from direct numerical simulations of forced homogeneous isotropic turbulence at $Re_lambda in [40-610]$. We show that the clustering of velocity nulls is much stronger than those of acceleration and vorticity nulls. These acceleration and vorticity nulls, however, are denser than the velocity nulls. We study the scaling of clusters of these null points with $Re_lambda$ and with characteristic turbulence lengthscales. We also analyze datasets of point inertial particles with Stokes numbers $St = 0.5$, 3, and 6, at $Re_lambda = 240$. Inertial particles display preferential concentration with a degree of clustering that resembles some properties of the clustering of the Lagrangian acceleration nulls, in agreement with the proposed sweep-stick mechanism of clustering formation.
We investigate the dynamics of cohesive particles in homogeneous isotropic turbulence, based on one-way coupled simulations that include Stokes drag, lubrication, cohesive and direct contact forces. We observe a transient flocculation phase characterized by a growing average floc size, followed by a statistically steady equilibrium phase. We analyze the temporal evolution of floc size and shape due to aggregation, breakage, and deformation. Larger turbulent shear and weaker cohesive forces yield elongated flocs that are smaller in size. Flocculation proceeds most rapidly when the fluid and particle time scales are balanced and a suitably defined Stokes number is textit{O}(1). During the transient stage, cohesive forces of intermediate strength produce flocs of the largest size, as they are strong enough to cause aggregation, but not so strong as to pull the floc into a compact shape. Small Stokes numbers and weak turbulence delay the onset of the equilibrium stage. During equilibrium, stronger cohesive forces yield flocs of larger size. The equilibrium floc size distribution exhibits a preferred size that depends on the cohesive number. We observe that flocs are generally elongated by turbulent stresses before breakage. Flocs of size close to the Kolmogorov length scale preferentially align themselves with the intermediate strain direction and the vorticity vector. Flocs of smaller size tend to align themselves with the extensional strain direction. More generally, flocs are aligned with the strongest Lagrangian stretching direction. The Kolmogorov scale is seen to limit floc growth. We propose a new flocculation model with a variable fractal dimension that predicts the temporal evolution of the floc size and shape.
The radial relative velocity between particles suspended in turbulent flow plays a critical role in droplet collision and growth. We present a simple and accurate approach to RV measurement in isotropic turbulence - planar 4-frame particle tracking velocimetry - using routine PIV hardware. This study demonstrates the feasibility of accurately measuring RV using routine hardware and verifies, for the first time, the path-history and inertial filtering effects on particle-pair RV at large particle separations experimentally.