Fluid particle accelerations in fully developed turbulence

A. La Porta (), Greg A. Voth, Alice M. Crawford, Jim Alexander and Eberhard Bodenschatz
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A. La Porta: Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Laboratory of Nuclear Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca
Greg A. Voth: Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Laboratory of Nuclear Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca
Alice M. Crawford: Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Laboratory of Nuclear Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca
Jim Alexander: Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Laboratory of Nuclear Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca
Eberhard Bodenschatz: Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Laboratory of Nuclear Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca

Nature, 2001, vol. 409, issue 6823, 1017-1019

Abstract: Abstract The motion of fluid particles as they are pushed along erratic trajectories by fluctuating pressure gradients is fundamental to transport and mixing in turbulence. It is essential in cloud formation and atmospheric transport1,2, processes in stirred chemical reactors and combustion systems3, and in the industrial production of nanoparticles4. The concept of particle trajectories has been used successfully to describe mixing and transport in turbulence3,5, but issues of fundamental importance remain unresolved. One such issue is the Heisenberg–Yaglom prediction of fluid particle accelerations6,7, based on the 1941 scaling theory of Kolmogorov8,9. Here we report acceleration measurements using a detector adapted from high-energy physics to track particles in a laboratory water flow at Reynolds numbers up to 63,000. We find that, within experimental errors, Kolmogorov scaling of the acceleration variance is attained at high Reynolds numbers. Our data indicate that the acceleration is an extremely intermittent variable—particles are observed with accelerations of up to 1,500 times the acceleration of gravity (equivalent to 40 times the root mean square acceleration). We find that the acceleration data reflect the anisotropy of the large-scale flow at all Reynolds numbers studied.

Date: 2001
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DOI: 10.1038/35059027

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