Stefano Musacchio
CNRS, University of Nice, France
Clustering and Turbophoresis in a Shear Flow without Walls
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We investigate the spatial distribution of inertial particles
suspended in the bulk of a turbulent inhomogeneous flow. By means of
direct numerical simulations of particle trajectories transported by
the turbulent Kolmogorov flow, we study large and small scale
mechanisms inducing inhomogeneities in the distribution of heavy
particles. We discuss turbophoresis both for large and weak inertia,
providing heuristic arguments for the functional form of the particle
density profile. In particular, we argue and numerically confirm that
the turbophoretic effect is maximal for particles of intermediate
inertia. Our results indicate that small-scale fractal clustering and
turbophoresis peak in different ranges in the particles' Stokes number
and the separation of the two peaks increases with the flow's Reynolds
number.
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