No Arabic abstract
We use the Fokker-Planck equation and its moment equations to study the collective behavior of interacting particles in unsteady one-dimensional flows. Particles interact according to a long-range attractive and a short-range repulsive potential field known as Morse potential. We assume Stokesian drag force between particles and their carrier fluid, and find analytic single-peaked traveling solutions for the spatial density of particles in the catastrophic phase. In steady flow conditions the streaming velocity of particles is identical to their carrier fluid, but we show that particle streaming is asynchronous with an unsteady carrier fluid. Using linear perturbation analysis, the stability of traveling solutions is investigated in unsteady conditions. It is shown that the resulting dispersion relation is an integral equation of the Fredholm type, and yields two general families of stable modes: singular modes whose eigenvalues form a continuous spectrum, and a finite number of discrete global modes. Depending on the value of drag coefficient, stable modes can be over-damped, critically damped, or decaying oscillatory waves. The results of linear perturbation analysis are confirmed through the numerical solution of the fully nonlinear Fokker-Planck equation.
The long time dynamics of large particles trapped in two inhomogeneous turbulent shear flows is studied experimentally. Both flows present a common feature, a shear region that separates two colliding circulations, but with different spatial symmetries and temporal behaviors. Because large particles are less and less sensitive to flow fluctuations as their size increases, we observe the emergence of a slow dynamics corresponding to back-and-forth motions between two attractors, and a super-slow regime synchronized with flow reversals when they exist. Such dynamics is substantially reproduced by a one dimensional stochastic model of an over-damped particle trapped in a two-well potential, forced by a colored noise. An extended model is also proposed that reproduces observed dynamics and trapping without potential barrier: the key ingredient is the ratio between the time scales of the noise correlation and the particle dynamics. A total agreement with experiments requires the introduction of spatially inhomogeneous fluctuations and a suited confinement strength.
It is well known that the reversibility of Stokes flow makes it difficult for small microorganisms to swim. Inertial effects break this reversibility, allowing new mechanisms of propulsion and feeding. Therefore it is important to estimate the effect of unsteady and fluid inertia on the dynamics of microorganisms in flow. In this work, we show how to translate known inertial effects for non-motile organisms to motile ones, from passive to active particles. The method relies on a trick used earlier by Legendre and Magnaudet to deduce inertial corrections to the lift force on a bubble from Saffmans results for a solid sphere, using the fact that small inertial effects are determined by the far field of the disturbance flow. The method allows to compute the inertial effect of unsteady fluid accelerations on motile organisms, and the inertial forces they experience in steady shear flow. We explain why the method fails to describe the effect of convective fluid inertia.
We use direct numerical simulations to calculate the joint probability density function of the relative distance $R$ and relative radial velocity component $V_R$ for a pair of heavy inertial particles suspended in homogeneous and isotropic turbulent flows. At small scales the distribution is scale invariant, with a scaling exponent that is related to the particle-particle correlation dimension in phase space, $D_2$. It was argued [1, 2] that the scale invariant part of the distribution has two asymptotic regimes: (1) $|V_R| ll R$ where the distribution depends solely on $R$; and (2) $|V_R| gg R$ where the distribution is a function of $|V_R|$ alone. The probability distributions in these two regimes are matched along a straight line $|V_R| = z^ast R$. Our simulations confirm that this is indeed correct. We further obtain $D_2$ and $z^ast$ as a function of the Stokes number, ${rm St}$. The former depends non-monotonically on ${rm St}$ with a minimum at about ${rm St} approx 0.7$ and the latter has only a weak dependence on ${rm St}$.
We develop a general hydrodynamic theory describing a system of interacting actively propelling particles of arbitrary shape suspended in a viscous fluid. We model the active part of the particle motion using a slip velocity prescribed on the otherwise rigid particle surfaces. We introduce the general framework for particle rotations and translations by applying the Lorentz reciprocal theorem for a collection of mobile particles with arbitrary surface slip. We then develop an approximate theory applicable to widely separated spheres, including hydrodynamic interactions up to the level of force quadrupoles. We apply our theory to a general example involving a prescribed slip velocity, and a specific case concerning the autonomous motion of chemically active particles moving by diffusiophoresis due to self-generated chemical gradients.
Recent experiments and simulations have shown that unsteady turbulent flows, before reaching a dynamic equilibrium state, display a universal behaviour. We show that the observed universal non-equilibrium scaling can be explained using a non-equilibrium correction of Kolmogorovs energy spectrum. Given the universality of the experimental and numerical observations, the ideas presented here lay the foundation for the modeling of a wide class of unsteady turbulent flows.