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Numerical simulations of aggregate breakup in bounded and unbounded turbulent flows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Matthaus U. Babler*
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden
Luca Biferale
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and INFN, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy
Luca Brandt
Affiliation:
Linné FLOW Centre and SeRC (Swedish e-Science Research Centre), KTH Mechanics, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden
Ulrike Feudel
Affiliation:
Theoretical Physics/Complex Systems, ICBM, Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany
Ksenia Guseva
Affiliation:
Theoretical Physics/Complex Systems, ICBM, Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany
Alessandra S. Lanotte
Affiliation:
ISAC-CNR and INFN, Sez. Lecce, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Cristian Marchioli
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical, Management and Mechanical Engineering, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy Department of Fluid Mechanics, CISM, 33100 Udine, Italy
Francesco Picano
Affiliation:
Linné FLOW Centre and SeRC (Swedish e-Science Research Centre), KTH Mechanics, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Via Venezia 1, 35131 Padova, Italy
Gaetano Sardina
Affiliation:
Linné FLOW Centre and SeRC (Swedish e-Science Research Centre), KTH Mechanics, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden
Alfredo Soldati
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical, Management and Mechanical Engineering, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy Department of Fluid Mechanics, CISM, 33100 Udine, Italy
Federico Toschi
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands IAC, CNR, Via dei Taurini 19, 00185 Roma, Italy
*
Email address for correspondence: babler@kth.se

Abstract

Breakup of small aggregates in fully developed turbulence is studied by means of direct numerical simulations in a series of typical bounded and unbounded flow configurations, such as a turbulent channel flow, a developing boundary layer and homogeneous isotropic turbulence. The simplest criterion for breakup is adopted, whereby aggregate breakup occurs when the local hydrodynamic stress ${\it\sigma}\sim {\it\varepsilon}^{1/2}$ , with ${\it\varepsilon}$ being the energy dissipation at the position of the aggregate, overcomes a given threshold ${\it\sigma}_{cr}$ , which is characteristic for a given type of aggregate. Results show that the breakup rate decreases with increasing threshold. For small thresholds, it develops a scaling behaviour among the different flows. For high thresholds, the breakup rates show strong differences between the different flow configurations, highlighting the importance of non-universal mean-flow properties. To further assess the effects of flow inhomogeneity and turbulent fluctuations, the results are compared with those obtained in a smooth stochastic flow. Furthermore, we discuss the limitations and applicability of a set of independent proxies.

Type
Papers
Copyright
© 2015 Cambridge University Press 

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