Rotational intermittency and turbulence induced lift experienced by large particles in a turbulent flow

TL;DR

This study experimentally investigates how large particles in turbulent flows experience intermittent accelerations and lift forces, revealing complex dynamics and the influence of particle rotation on their motion.

Contribution

It provides new experimental evidence of intermittency and lift forces acting on large particles in turbulence, highlighting the role of particle rotation and orientation.

Findings

Translational and angular accelerations show wide probability distributions.

Evidence of lift force acting on particles based on orientation and acceleration data.

Intermittency is a key feature of particle motion in turbulence.

Abstract

The motion of a large, neutrally buoyant, particle, freely advected by a turbulent flow is determined experimentally. We demonstrate that both the translational and angular accelerations exhibit very wide probability distributions, a manifestation of intermittency. The orientation of the angular velocity with respect to the trajectory, as well as the translational acceleration conditioned on the spinning velocity provide evidence of a lift force acting on the particle.