460 research outputs found
Exact regularized point particle method for multi-phase flows in the two-way coupling regime
Particulate flows have been largely studied under the simplifying assumptions
of one-way coupling regime where the disperse phase do not react-back on the
carrier fluid. In the context of turbulent flows, many non trivial phenomena
such as small scales particles clustering or preferential spatial accumulation
have been explained and understood. A more complete view of multiphase flows
can be gained calling into play two-way coupling effects, i.e. by accounting
for the inter-phase momentum exchange between the carrier and the suspended
phase, certainly relevant at increasing mass loading. In such regime, partially
investigated in the past by the so-called Particle In Cell (PIC) method, much
is still to be learned about the dynamics of the disperse phase and the ensuing
alteration of the carrier flow.
In this paper we present a new methodology rigorously designed to capture the
inter-phase momentum exchange for particles smaller than the smallest
hydrodynamical scale, e.g. the Kolmogorov scale in a turbulent flow. In fact,
the momentum coupling mechanism exploits the unsteady Stokes flow around a
small rigid sphere where the transient disturbance produced by each particle is
evaluated in a closed form. The particles are described as lumped, point masses
which would lead to the appearance of singularities. A rigorous regularization
procedure is conceived to extract the physically relevant interactions between
particles and fluid which avoids any "ah hoc" assumption. The approach is
suited for high efficiency implementation on massively parallel machines since
the transient disturbance produced by the particles is strongly localized in
space around the actual particle position. As will be shown, hundred thousands
particles can therefore be handled at an affordable computational cost as
demonstrated by a preliminary application to a particle laden turbulent shear
flow.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 56 pages, 15 figure
Application of the exact regularized point particle method (ERPP) to particle laden turbulent shear flows in the two-way coupling regime
The Exact Regularized Point Particle method (ERPP), which is a new inter-phase momentum coupling ap- proach, is extensively used for the first time to explore the response of homogeneous shear turbulence in presence of different particle populations. Particle suspensions with different Stokes number and/or mass loading are considered. Particles with Kolmogorov Stokes number of order one suppress turbulent kinetic energy when the mass loading is increased. In contrast, heavier particles leave this observable almost un- changed with respect to the reference uncoupled case. Turbulence modulation is found to be anisotropic, leaving the streamwise velocity fluctuations less affected by unitary Stokes number particles whilst it is increased by heavier particles. The analysis of the energy spectra shows that the turbulence modulation occurs throughout the entire range of resolved scales leading to non-trivial augmentation/depletion of the energy content among the different velocity components at different length-scales. In this regard, the ERPP approach is able to provide convergent statistics up to the smallest dissipative scales of the flow, giving the opportunity to trust the ensuing results. Indeed, a substantial modification of the turbu- lent fluctuations at the smallest-scales, i.e. at the level of the velocity gradients, is observed due to the particle backreaction. Small scale anisotropies are enhanced and fluctuations show a greater level of in- termittency as measured by the probability distribution function of the longitudinal velocity increments and by the corresponding flatness
Intermittency and scaling laws for wall bounded turbulence
Well defined scaling laws clearly appear in wall bounded turbulence, even
very close to the wall, where a distinct violation of the refined Kolmogorov
similarity hypothesis (RKSH) occurs together with the simultaneous persistence
of scaling laws. A new form of RKSH for the wall region is here proposed in
terms of the structure functions of order two which, in physical terms,
confirms the prevailing role of the momentum transfer towards the wall in the
near wall dynamics.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Turbulent mixing of a slightly supercritical Van der Waals fluid at Low-Mach number
Supercritical fluids near the critical point are characterized by liquid-like
densities and gas-like transport properties. These features are purposely
exploited in different contexts ranging from natural products
extraction/fractionation to aerospace propulsion. Large part of studies
concerns this last context, focusing on the dynamics of supercritical fluids at
high Mach number where compressibility and thermodynamics strictly interact.
Despite the widespread use also at low Mach number, the turbulent mixing
properties of slightly supercritical fluids have still not investigated in
detail in this regime. This topic is addressed here by dealing with Direct
Numerical Simulations (DNS) of a coaxial jet of a slightly supercritical Van
der Waals fluid. Since acoustic effects are irrelevant in the Low Mach number
conditions found in many industrial applications, the numerical model is based
on a suitable low-Mach number expansion of the governing equation. According to
experimental observations, the weakly supercritical regime is characterized by
the formation of finger-like structures-- the so-called ligaments --in the
shear layers separating the two streams. The mechanism of ligament formation at
vanishing Mach number is extracted from the simulations and a detailed
statistical characterization is provided. Ligaments always form whenever a high
density contrast occurs, independently of real or perfect gas behaviors. The
difference between real and perfect gas conditions is found in the ligament
small-scale structure. More intense density gradients and thinner interfaces
characterize the near critical fluid in comparison with the smoother behavior
of the perfect gas. A phenomenological interpretation is here provided on the
basis of the real gas thermodynamics properties.Comment: Published on Physics of Fluid
Scaling properties in the production range of shear dominated flows
Recent developments in turbulence are focused on the effect of large scale
anisotropy on the small scale statistics of velocity increments. According to
Kolmogorov, isotropy is recovered in the large Reynolds number limit as the
scale is reduced and, in the so-called inertial range, universal features
-namely the scaling exponents of structure functions - emerge clearly. However
this picture is violated in a number of cases, typically in the high shear
region of wall bounded flows. The common opinion ascribes this effect to the
contamination of the inertial range by the larger anisotropic scales, i.e. the
residual anisotropy is assumed as a weak perturbation of an otherwise isotropic
dynamics. In this case, given the rotational invariance of the Navier-Stokes
equations, the isotropic component of the structure functions keeps the same
exponents of isotropic turbulence. This kind of reasoning fails when the
anisotropic effects are strong as in the production range of shear dominated
flows. This regime is analyzed here by means of both numerical and experimental
data for a homogeneous shear flow. A well defined scaling behavior is found to
exist, with exponents which differ substantially from those of classical
isotropic turbulence. Contrary to what predicted by the perturbation approach,
such a deep alteration concerns the isotropic sector itself. The general
validity of these results is discussed in the context of turbulence near solid
walls, where more appropriate closure models for the coarse grained
Navier-Stokes equations would be advisable.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
EH-DPD: a dissipative particle dynamics approach to electrohydrodynamics
Abstract: Electrohydrodynamics is crucial in many nanofluidic and biotechnological applications. In such small scales, the complexity due to the coupling of fluid dynamics with the dynamics of ions is increased by the relevance of thermal fluctuations. Here, we present a mesoscale method based on the Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) model of the fluid. Two scalar quantities, corresponding to the number of positive and negative ions carried by each DPD particle, are added to the standard DPD formulation. We introduced a general framework that, given the definition of the free-energy of the DPD particle, allows to derive a fluctuation-dissipation relation and the expression for ionic fluxes between the DPD particles. This provides a link between the dynamics of the system and its equilibrium properties. The model is then validated simulating a planar electroosmotic flow for the cases of overlapping and non overlapping electric double layers. It is shown that using a Van der Waals equation of state the effect of ionic finite size can be accounted, leading to significant effects on the concentration and velocity profiles with respect to the ideal solution case. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
Heterogeneous bubble nucleation dynamics
Heterogeneous nucleation is the most effective mechanism for the inception of phase transformation. Solid walls and impurities act as a catalyst for the formation of a new thermodynamic phase by reducing the activation energy required for a phase change, hence enhancing nucleation. The formation of vapour bubbles close to solid, ideally flat, walls is addressed here by exploiting a mesoscale description that couples diffuse interface modelling of the two-phase vapour-liquid system with fluctuating hydrodynamics, extending previous work by the authors on homogeneous nucleation. The technical focus of this work is to directly account for hydrophobic or hydrophilic walls through appropriate boundary conditions compliant with the fluctuation-dissipation balance, a crucial point in the context of fluctuating hydrodynamics theory. This methodology provides access to the complete dynamics of the nucleation process, from the inception of multiple bubbles up to their long-Time macroscopic expansion, on time and spatial scales unaffordable by standard techniques for nucleation, such as molecular dynamics. The analysis mainly focuses on the effect of wall wettability on the nucleation rate, and, albeit qualitatively in agreement with classical nucleation theory predictions, it reveals several discrepancies to be ascribed to layering effects in the liquid close to the boundary and to bubble-bubble interactions. In particular, it is found that, close to moderately hydrophilic surfaces, the most probable nucleation events occur away from the wall through a homogeneous mechanism
Transport of micro-bubbles in turbulent shear flows
The dynamics of micro-bubbles, which are typical in many industrial applications, is addressed by means the Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of two prototypal flows, namely a homogeneous shear flow and a fully developed pipe flows. This preliminary study has a two-fold purpose. The homogenous turbulent shear flow is useful to characterize the bubble dynamics in terms of their eventual clustering properties which is expected to be controlled by the Stokes number. The time history of the fluid pressure experienced by the bubbles during their evolution is recorded and successively employed to force the Rayleigh-Plesset equation [1]. The ensuing data are used to address a posteriori the bubble diameter statistics in view of bubble collapse induced by strong and intermittent turbulent pressure fluctuations. The turbulent pipe flow simulations serve to address the bubble dynamics in wall bounded flows. Here the bubbles are observed to accumulate in the near-wall region with different intensity depending on the bubble dimensions
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