Preferential Concentration of Free-Falling Heavy Particles in Turbulence

OBLIGADO, M.; FALKINHOFF, F.; MININNI, P.D.; BOURGOIN, M.

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Año: 2020 vol. 125

0031-9007

We present a sweep-stick mechanism for heavy particles transported by a turbulent flow under the actionof gravity. Direct numerical simulations show that these particles preferentially explore regions of the flowwith close to zero Lagrangian acceleration. However, the actual Lagrangian acceleration of the fluidelements where particles accumulate is not zero, and has a dependence on the Stokes number, the gravityacceleration, and the settling velocity of the particles.