Modulation of homogeneous shear turbulence laden with finite-size particles

Abstract

The dynamics of homogeneous shear turbulence laden with spherical finite-size particles is investigated using fully resolved numerical simulations to understand how the presence of particles modulates turbulent shear flows. We focus on a dilute flow laden with non-sedimenting particles whose diameter is slightly smaller than or comparable with those of vortex cores in turbulence. An immersed boundary method is adopted to represent a spherical finite-size particle. Numerical results show that the presence of particles augments the viscous dissipation of turbulence kinetic energy, which leads to a slower increase in the turbulence energy. Although the augmentation of energy dissipation occurs predominantly inside viscous layers surrounding particles in an initial period, the contribution from their outside becomes more significant due to the modification of turbulence structures as turbulence develops. It is found that the particles exhibit weak tendency to accumulate in vortex layers. The particles approaching and colliding with vortex layers induce large velocity fluctuations, which leads to the generation and shedding of thin vortex tubes. Newly generated vortex tubes interact with developed vortex tubes and layers, and modify the entire structure of the vorticity field.

Keywords:

• homogeneous shear turbulence
• finite-size particle
• turbulence modulation
• vortex layers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.