F. De Lillo

Large scale inhomogeneity of inertial particles in turbulent flows

Preferential concentration of inertial particles in turbulent flow is studied by high resolution direct numerical simulations of two-dimensional turbulence. The formation of network-like regions of high particle density, characterized by a length scale which depends on the Stokes number of inertial particles, is observed. At smaller scales, the size of empty regions appears to be distributed according to a universal scaling law.

The Eulerian description of dilute collisionless suspension

We analyze the statistical properties of a Eulerian fluid model describing the evolution of a suspension of inertial particles in an incompressible flow. Regularity and compressibility of the velocity field for the inertial phase are investigated in the limit of heavy particles by means of numerical simulations in two- and three-dimensional flows. We show that in the small Stokes number regime the Eulerian fluid model is able to capture fine details of the clustering dynamics, and exhibits good agreement with fully Lagrangian simulations of inertial particle trajectories. The fluid description breaks down due to collisions at Stokes numbers 0.1, the actual value depending on the carrier flow characteristics.

Nonlinear Diffusion Model for Rayleigh-Taylor Mixing

The complex evolution of turbulent mixing in Rayleigh-Taylor convection is studied in terms of eddy diffusivity models for the mean temperature profile. It is found that a nonlinear model, derived within the general framework of Prandtl mixing theory, reproduces accurately the evolution of turbulent profiles obtained from numerical simulations. Our model allows us to give very precise predictions for the turbulent heat flux and for the Nusselt number in the ultimate state regime of thermal convection.

Control of particle clustering in turbulence by polymer additives.

We study the clustering properties of inertial particles in a turbulent viscoelastic fluid. The investigation is carried out by means of direct numerical simulations of turbulence in the Oldroyd-B model. The effects of polymers on the small-scale properties of homogeneous turbulence are considered in relation with their consequences on clustering of particles, both lighter and heavier than the carrying fluid. We show that, depending on particle and flow parameters, polymers can either increase or decrease clustering.

Peripheral mixing of passive scalar at small Reynolds number

Mixing of a passive scalar in the peripheral region close to a wall is investigated by means of accurate direct numerical simulations of both a three-dimensional Couette channel flow at low Reynolds numbers and a two-dimensional synthetic flow. In both cases, the resulting phenomenology can be understood in terms of the theory recently developed by Lebedev & Turitsyn (Phys. Rev. E, vol. 69, 2004, 036301). Our results prove the robustness of the identified mechanisms responsible for the persistency of scalar concentration close to the wall with important consequences in completely different fields ranging from microfluidic applications to environmental dispersion modelling.

Inverse cascade in Charney-Hasegawa-Mima turbulence

The inverse energy cascade in the Charney-Hasegawa-Mima turbulence is investigated. The Kolmogorov law for the third-order velocity structure function is derived and shown to be independent of the parameter λ, at variance with the energy spectrum, as shown by high-resolution direct numerical simulations. In the asymptotic limit of strong rotation, λ → ∞, the Kolmogorov constant is found to be Cλ 11 while coherent vortices are observed to form at a dynamical scale which slowly grows with time. These vortices form an almost quenched pattern and induce a strong deviation form Gaussianity in the velocity field.

Geotropic tracers in turbulent flows: a proxy for fluid acceleration

We investigate the statistics of orientation of small, neutrally buoyant, spherical tracers whose centre of mass is displaced from the geometrical centre. If appropriate-sized particles are considered, a linear relation can be derived between the horizontal components of the orientation vector and the same components of acceleration. Direct numerical simulations are carried out, showing that such relation can be used to reconstruct the statistics of acceleration fluctuations up to the order of the gravitational acceleration. Based on such results, we suggest a novel method for the local experimental measurement of accelerations in turbulent flows.

Inertial floaters in stratified turbulence

We investigate numerically the dynamics and statistics of inertial particles transported by stratified turbulence, in the case of particle density intermediate in the average density profile of the fluid. Under these conditions, particles tend to form a thin layer around the corresponding fluid isopycnal. The thickness of the resulting layer is determined by a balance between buoyancy (which attracts the particle to the isopycnal) and inertia (which prevents them from following it exactly). By means of extensive numerical simulations, we explore the parameter space of the system and we find that in a range of parameters particles form fractal clusters within the layer.

Irreversibility of the two-dimensional enstrophy cascade

We study the time irreversibility of the direct cascade in two-dimensional turbulence by looking at the time derivative of the square vorticity along Lagrangian trajectories, a quantity called metenstrophy. By means of extensive direct numerical simulations we measure the time irreversibility from the asymmetry of the probability density function of the metenstrophy and we find that it increases with the Reynolds number of the cascade, similarly to what is found in three-dimensional turbulence. A detailed analysis of the different contributions to the enstrophy budget reveals a remarkable difference with respect to what is observed for the energy cascade, in particular the role of the statistics of the forcing to determine the degree of irreversibility.

Scale-dependent colocalization in a population of gyrotactic swimmers

We study the small scale clustering of gyrotactic swimmers transported by a turbulent flow, when the intrinsic variability of the swimming parameters within the population is considered. By means of extensive numerical simulations, we find that the variety of the population introduces a characteristic scale R^{*} in its spatial distribution. At scales smaller than R^{*} the swimmers are homogeneously distributed, while at larger scales an inhomogeneous distribution is observed with a fractal dimension close to what observed for a monodisperse population characterized by mean parameters. The scale R^{*} depends on the dispersion of the population and it is found to scale linearly with the standard deviation both for a bimodal and for a Gaussian distribution. Our numerical results, which extend recent findings for a monodisperse population, indicate that in principle it is possible to observe small scale, fractal clustering in a laboratory experiment with gyrotactic cells.