Particle response and turbulence modification in isotropic turbulence

Abstract

The effect of turbulence on particle concentration fields and the modification of turbulence by particles has been investigated using direct numerical simulations of isotropic turbulence. The particle motion was computed using Stokes’ law of resistance and it was also assumed the particle volume fraction was negligible. For simulations in which the particles do not modify the turbulence field it was found that light particles collect preferentially in regions of low vorticity and high strain rate. For increased mass loading the particle field attenuated an increasing fraction of the turbulence energy. Examination of the spatial energy spectra showed that the fraction of turbulence kinetic energy in the high wave numbers was increased relative to the energy in the low wave numbers for increasing values of the mass loading. It was also found that the turbulence field was modified differently by light particles than by heavy particles because of the preferential collection of the light particles in low-vorticity, high-strain-rate regions. Correlation coefficients between the second invariant of the deformation tensor and pressure showed little sensitivity to increased loading while correlations between enstrophy and pressure were decreased more by the light particles than by the heavy particles for increased mass loading.