Work

Pair statistics of oblate spheroids settling in a turbulent flow

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: We perform direct numerical simulations of sub-Kolmogorov, inertial spheroids settling under gravity in homogeneous, isotropic turbulence, and find that small-scale clustering, measured via the correlation dimension, depends sensitively on the spheroid aspect ratio. In particular, such spheroids are shown to cluster more as their anisotropy increases. Further, the approach rate for pairs of spheroids is calculated and found to deviate significantly from the spherical-particle limit. Our study, spanning a range of Stokes numbers and aspect ratios, provides critical inputs for developing collision models to understand the dynamics of sedimenting, anisotropic particles in general, and ice crystals in clouds in particular.

Source: Journal of Fluid Mechanics

DOI: 10.1017/jfm.2025.256

Authors: Prateek Anand, Samriddhi Sankar Ray

Institutions: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Particle Dynamics in Fluid Flows

Subfield: Ocean Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India, Science and Engineering Research Board