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Probing the strain-rotation balance in non-Newtonian turbulence with inertial particles
Phys. Rev. Fluids 3, 082602(R) – Published 9 August, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.3.082602
Abstract
It has long been thought that small amounts of polymer additives can alter the balance between strain and rotation in turbulent flow. Quantitative evidence for this idea, however, is scant, in part because measuring the velocity gradient in intense turbulence is very difficult. Here, we take a different approach to investigating this question, using the well-known preferential concentration effect of inertial particles in turbulence as a probe of the strain-rotation balance. By measuring the pair correlation function of weakly inertial particles in a turbulent water flow with varying concentrations of a high-molecular-weight polyacrylamide, we show that particle clustering is monotonically enhanced as the polymer concentration increases. Our results are consistent with the recently developed energy flux balance model for polymer turbulence, which demonstrates that the balance between strain and rotation is indeed modified by polymers and that this effect increases with the polymer concentration. Our results provide further support for the energy flux balance model as the proper description of polymer turbulence, and highlight the utility of inertial particle clustering as a probe for characterizing the small-scale dynamics of turbulence.
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