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Clustering and relative velocity of particles advected by a turbulent flow

Dr. Akshay Bhatnagar, IIT - Palakkad

Location : AB2-5A
Abstract: Turbulent flows carrying small particles are found in many natural settings. Some of the examples are dust storms, small water droplets in the cloud, astrophysical dust in proto-planetary disks and the interstellar medium. Due to turbulence, these small particles may collide and merge to form larger particles. This process of collision and coalescence plays an important role in the formation of rain in the clouds, and the formation of planets in proto-planetary disks. The frequency and outcome of collision depend on the local density of and relative velocities of particles. We study the statistical properties of small particles advected by a turbulent flow by using large-scale numerical simulations. Due to their dissipative dynamics, these particles form fractal clusters in position velocity phase space. We quantify the clustering behavior by computing the phase space correlation dimension. Additionally, we examine the probability distribution functions (PDFs) of relative velocities for nearby particles. These PDFs exhibit power-law tails, signifying a high probability of encountering very high relative velocities even between nearby particles. The exponent of the power-law is related to the phase space correlation dimension.

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