On the clustering of finite-size particles in turbulence

Lionel Fiabane, Robert Zimmermann, Romain Volk, Jean-Francois Pinton, Mickael Bourgoin

Published 2012-05-16, updated 2012-09-14Version 3

We investigate experimentally the spatial distributions of heavy and neutrally buoyant particles of finite size in a fully turbulent flow. As their Stokes number (i.e. ratio of the particle viscous relaxation time to a typical flow time scale) is close to 1, one may expect both classes of particles to aggregate in specific flow regions. This is not observed. Using a Voronoi analysis we show that neutrally buoyant particles sample turbulence homogeneously, whereas heavy particles do cluster. One implication for the understanding and modeling of particle laden flows, is that the Stokes number cannot be the sole key parameter as soon as the dynamics of finite-size objects is considered.