Dispersion of tracer particles in a compressible flow

The turbulent diffusion of Lagrangian tracer particles has been studied in a flow on the surface of a large tank of water and in computer simulations. The effect of flow compressibility is captured in images of particle fields. The velocity field of floating particles has a divergence, whose probabi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Cressman, John R, Goldburg, Walter I, Schumacher, Joerg
Format Paper
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 19.02.2004
Subjects
Clustering
Compressibility effects
Compressible flow
Computational fluid dynamics
Computer simulation
Deformation
Divergence
Probability density functions
Scaling
Tracer particles
Tracers
Turbulent diffusion
Velocity distribution
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Summary:The turbulent diffusion of Lagrangian tracer particles has been studied in a flow on the surface of a large tank of water and in computer simulations. The effect of flow compressibility is captured in images of particle fields. The velocity field of floating particles has a divergence, whose probability density function shows exponential tails. Also studied is the motion of pairs and triplets of particles. The mean square separation <Delta(t)^2> is fitted to the scaling form <Delta(t)^2> ~ t^alpha, and in contrast with the Richardson-Kolmogorov prediction, an extended range with a reduced scaling exponent of alpha=1.65 pm 0.1 is found. Clustering is also manifest in strongly deformed triangles spanned within triplets of tracers.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.0402031