Scale-dependent statistics of inertial particle distribution in high Reynolds number turbulence

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution simulations and wavelet analysis to explore how inertial particles cluster or form voids across different scales in high Reynolds number turbulence, revealing scale-dependent intermittency and void prominence.

Contribution

It introduces a multiscale statistical framework combining direct numerical simulations and wavelet analysis to characterize inertial particle clustering and voids in high Reynolds turbulence.

Findings

Intermittent clustering at small scales for Stokes number ~1.

Void regions are prominent at intermediate and large scales for small Stokes numbers.

Reynolds number increase slightly enhances flatness and affects void distribution.

Abstract

Multiscale statistical analyses of inertial particle distributions are presented to investigate the statistical signature of clustering and void regions in particle-laden incompressible isotropic turbulence. Three-dimensional direct numerical simulations of homogeneous isotropic turbulence at high Reynolds number ($Re_\lambda \gtrsim 200$) with up to $10^9$ inertial particles are performed for Stokes numbers ranging from $0.05$ to $5.0$. Orthogonal wavelet analysis is then applied to the computed particle number density fields. Scale-dependent skewness and flatness values of the particle number density distributions are calculated and the influence of Reynolds number $Re_\lambda$ and Stokes number $St$ is assessed. For $St \sim 1.0$, both the scale-dependent skewness and flatness values become larger as the scale decreases, suggesting intermittent clustering at small scales. For $St \le 0.2$, the flatness at intermediate scales, i.e. for scales larger than the Kolmogorov scale and smaller than the integral scale of the flow, increases as $St$ increases, and the skewness exhibits negative values at the intermediate scales. The negative values of the skewness are attributed to void regions. These results indicate that void regions at the intermediate sales are pronounced and intermittently distributed for such small Stokes numbers. As $Re_\lambda$ increases, the flatness increases slightly. For $Re_\lambda \ge 328$, the skewness shows negative values at large scales, suggesting that void regions are pronounced at large scales, while clusters are pronounced at small scales.