373 research outputs found
Acceleration statistics of heavy particles in turbulence
We present the results of direct numerical simulations of heavy particle
transport in homogeneous, isotropic, fully developed turbulence, up to
resolution (). Following the trajectories of up
to 120 million particles with Stokes numbers, , in the range from 0.16 to
3.5 we are able to characterize in full detail the statistics of particle
acceleration. We show that: ({\it i}) The root-mean-squared acceleration
sharply falls off from the fluid tracer value already at quite
small Stokes numbers; ({\it ii}) At a given the normalised acceleration
increases with consistently
with the trend observed for fluid tracers; ({\it iii}) The tails of the
probability density function of the normalised acceleration
decrease with . Two concurrent mechanisms lead to the above results:
preferential concentration of particles, very effective at small , and
filtering induced by the particle response time, that takes over at larger
.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figs, 2 tables. A section with new results has been
added. Revised version accepted for pubblication on Journal of Fluid
Mechanic
Anomalous and dimensional scaling in anisotropic turbulence
We present a numerical study of anisotropic statistical fluctuations in
homogeneous turbulent flows. We give an argument to predict the dimensional
scaling exponents, (p+j)/3, for the projections of p-th order structure
function in the j-th sector of the rotational group. We show that measured
exponents are anomalous, showing a clear deviation from the dimensional
prediction. Dimensional scaling is subleading and it is recovered only after a
random reshuffling of all velocity phases, in the stationary ensemble. This
supports the idea that anomalous scaling is the result of a genuine inertial
evolution, independent of large-scale behavior.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Isotropy vs anisotropy in small-scale turbulence
The decay of large-scale anisotropies in small-scale turbulent flow is
investigated. By introducing two different kinds of estimators we discuss the
relation between the presence of a hierarchy for the isotropic and the
anisotropic scaling exponents and the persistence of anisotropies. Direct
measurements from a channel flow numerical simulation are presented.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
Recommended from our members
Microconfined flow behavior of red blood cells by image analysis techniques
This paper was presented at the 4th Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2014), which was held at University College, London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute, ASME Press, LCN London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL University College London, UCL Engineering, the International NanoScience Community, www.nanopaprika.eu.Red blood cells (RBCs) perform essential functions in human body, such as gas exchange between
blood and tissues, thanks to their ability to deform and flow in the microvascular network. The high RBC
deformability is mainly due to the viscoelastic properties of the cell membrane. Since an impaired RBC
deformability could be found in some diseases, such as malaria, sickle cell anemia, diabetes and hereditary
disorders, there is the need to provide further insight into measurement of RBC deformability in a
physiologically-relevant flow field. Here, we report on an imaging-based in vitro systematic microfluidic
investigation of RBCs flowing either in microcapillaries or in a microcirculation-mimicking device
containing a network of microchannels of diameter comparable to cell size. RBC membrane shear elastic
modulus and surface viscosity have been investigated by using diverging channels, while RBC time recovery
constant have been measured in start-up experiments. Moreover, RBC volume and surface area have been
measured in microcapillary flow. The comprehension of the single cell behavior led to the analysis of the
RBC flow-induced clustering. Overall, our results provide a novel technique to estimate RBC deformability,
that can be used for the analysis of pathological RBCs, for which reliable quantitative methods are still
lacking
Lagrangian Structure Functions in Turbulence: A Quantitative Comparison between Experiment and Direct Numerical Simulation
A detailed comparison between data from experimental measurements and
numerical simulations of Lagrangian velocity structure functions in turbulence
is presented. By integrating information from experiments and numerics, a
quantitative understanding of the velocity scaling properties over a wide range
of time scales and Reynolds numbers is achieved. The local scaling properties
of the Lagrangian velocity increments for the experimental and numerical data
are in good quantitative agreement for all time lags. The degree of
intermittency changes when measured close to the Kolmogorov time scales or at
larger time lags. This study resolves apparent disagreements between experiment
and numerics.Comment: 13 RevTeX pages (2 columns) + 8 figures include
Lyapunov exponents of heavy particles in turbulence
Lyapunov exponents of heavy particles and tracers advected by homogeneous and
isotropic turbulent flows are investigated by means of direct numerical
simulations. For large values of the Stokes number, the main effect of inertia
is to reduce the chaoticity with respect to fluid tracers. Conversely, for
small inertia, a counter-intuitive increase of the first Lyapunov exponent is
observed. The flow intermittency is found to induce a Reynolds number
dependency for the statistics of the finite time Lyapunov exponents of tracers.
Such intermittency effects are found to persist at increasing inertia.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Intermittency in the relative separations of tracers and of heavy particles in turbulent flows
Results from Direct Numerical Simulations of particle relative dispersion in
three dimensional homogeneous and isotropic turbulence at Reynolds number
are presented. We study point-like passive tracers and
heavy particles, at Stokes number St = 0, 0.6, 1 and 5. Particles are emitted
from localised sources, in bunches of thousands, periodically in time, allowing
to reach an unprecedented statistical accuracy, with a total number of events
for two-point observables of the order of . The right tail of the
probability density function for tracers develops a clear deviation from
Richardson's self-similar prediction, pointing to the intermittent nature of
the dispersion process. In our numerical experiment, such deviations are
manifest once the probability to measure an event becomes of the order of -or
rarer than- one part over one million, hence the crucial importance of a large
dataset. The role of finite-Reynolds effects and the related fluctuations when
pair separations cross the boundary between viscous and inertial range scales
are discussed. An asymptotic prediction based on the multifractal theory for
inertial range intermittency and valid for large Reynolds numbers is found to
agree with the data better than the Richardson theory. The agreement is
improved when considering heavy particles, whose inertia filters out viscous
scale fluctuations. By using the exit-time statistics we also show that events
associated to pairs experiencing unusually slow inertial range separations have
a non self-similar probability distribution function.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figure
Lagrangian statistics of particle pairs in homogeneous isotropic turbulence
We present a detailed investigation of the particle pair separation process
in homogeneous isotropic turbulence. We use data from direct numerical
simulations up to Taylor's Reynolds number 280 following the evolution of about
two million passive tracers advected by the flow over a time span of about
three decades. We present data for both the separation distance and the
relative velocity statistics. Statistics are measured along the particle pair
trajectories both as a function of time and as a function of their separation,
i.e. at fixed scales. We compare and contrast both sets of statistics in order
to gain an insight into the mechanisms governing the separation process. We
find very high levels of intermittency in the early stages, that is, for travel
times up to order ten Kolmogorov time scales. The fixed scale statistics allow
us to quantify anomalous corrections to Richardson diffusion in the inertial
range of scales for those pairs that separate rapidly. It also allows a
quantitative analysis of intermittency corrections for the relative velocity
statistics.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figure
Heavy particle concentration in turbulence at dissipative and inertial scales
Spatial distributions of heavy particles suspended in an incompressible
isotropic and homogeneous turbulent flow are investigated by means of high
resolution direct numerical simulations. In the dissipative range, it is shown
that particles form fractal clusters with properties independent of the
Reynolds number. Clustering is there optimal when the particle response time is
of the order of the Kolmogorov time scale . In the inertial range,
the particle distribution is no longer scale-invariant. It is however shown
that deviations from uniformity depend on a rescaled contraction rate, which is
different from the local Stokes number given by dimensional analysis. Particle
distribution is characterized by voids spanning all scales of the turbulent
flow; their signature in the coarse-grained mass probability distribution is an
algebraic behavior at small densities.Comment: 4 RevTeX pgs + 4 color Figures included, 1 figure eliminated second
part of the paper completely revise
Nonperturbative Spectrum of Anomalous Scaling Exponents in the Anisotropic Sectors of Passively Advected Magnetic Fields
We address the scaling behavior of the covariance of the magnetic field in
the three-dimensional kinematic dynamo problem when the boundary conditions
and/or the external forcing are not isotropic. The velocity field is gaussian
and -correlated in time, and its structure function scales with a
positive exponent . The covariance of the magnetic field is naturally
computed as a sum of contributions proportional to the irreducible
representations of the SO(3) symmetry group. The amplitudes are non-universal,
determined by boundary conditions. The scaling exponents are universal, forming
a discrete, strictly increasing spectrum indexed by the sectors of the symmetry
group. When the initial mean magnetic field is zero, no dynamo effect is found,
irrespective of the anisotropy of the forcing. The rate of isotropization with
decreasing scales is fully understood from these results.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures. Submitted to PR
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