Particle clustering in turbulence, inertial dynamics and resulting turbulence-induced accumulation, enhanced settling and collision / coalescence

High velocity turbulent flows are commonly encountered in both natural and industrial environments where solid particles or liquid droplets are suspended in a gas, such as clouds, storms and hurricanes, combustion chambers, coating or spraying devices, injectors...

The behaviour and dynamics of a particle assembly in such turbulent flows remains poorly understood, the main reason being the low Reynolds numbers so far available in low speed wind tunnel experimentations (Re_λ = 75).

Recent advances in instrumentations have widen the range of available Reynolds numbers to values becoming relevant to real situations (Re_λ = 500).

The objective of this project is to develop, through both experimental and numerical approaches, improved models of inertial particle behaviour in turbulent flows.

The coupling of Eulerian and Lagrangian statistics, and advanced measurements such as phase Doppler particle tracking or high speed imaging, will help tackling important issues relating to particle concentration, accumulation, enhanced settling, collisions and coalescence.