Probabilistic description of flake orientation suspended in rotating wave flows

TL;DR

This paper introduces a probabilistic model for the orientation of flakes in rotating wave flows, linking visualization patterns to flow properties and demonstrating convergence to flow-dependent states.

Contribution

It develops a new orientation probability density equation for tracers in fluid flows, enabling flow property inference from visualization data.

Findings

Analytical solution for rotating wave flow orientation probability.

Convergence to flow-dependent orientation distribution with diffusion.

Reproduction of experimental asymmetric patterns.

Abstract

In fluid dynamics experiments, flake-based flow visualization is a common technique to capture flow structures through the rays reflected from flat tracers suspended in the fluid. However, the correspondence between light intensity patterns in visualization images and the underlying physical properties of the flow can only be elucidated when the flow is known {\it a priori}. To reframe this limitation, just as the introduction of spin variable transformed quantum mechanics, we introduced the orientation variable into fluid dynamics and derived the time-dependent equation of the tracer orientation probability density field from an Eulerian perspective. As a first example in which a dimensionless parameter distinguishes the dependency on the initial condition, we illustrated an analytical solution of the orientation probability in a rotating wave flow. With the inclusion of the diffusion term in the governing equation, the probability converged to the flow-determined state with spatially varying anisotropy, eliminating dependency on initial conditions. As a second example, we solved the orientation probability field in the axisymmetric state in spherical Couette flow, to demonstrate independence from initial conditions consistent with experimental observations. An asymmetric pattern in experimental images, unexplained by the dynamics of the tracer orientation, was reproduced from the unique solution of the proposed equations.