Olivier Masbernat

The effect of neutrally buoyant finite-size particles on channel flows in the laminar-turbulent transition regime

The presence of finite-size particles in a channel flow close to the laminar-turbulent transition is simulated with the Force Coupling Method which allows two-way coupling with the flow dynamics. Spherical particles with channel height-to-particle diameter ratio of 16 are initially randomly seeded in a fluctuating flow above the critical Reynolds number corresponding to single phase flow relaminarization. When steady-state is reached, the particle volume fraction is homogeneously distributed in the channel cross-section (ϕ ≅ 5%) except in the near-wall region where it is larger due to inertia-driven migration. Turbulence statistics (intensity of velocity fluctuations, small-scale vortical structures, wall shear stress) calculated in the fully coupled two-phase flow simulations are compared to single-phase flow data in the transition regime. It is observed that particles increase the transverse r.m.s. flow velocity fluctuations and they break down the flow coherent structures into smaller, more numerous an...

Inertial modes of a periodically forced buoyant drop attached to a capillary

A drop of heptane attached to a capillary tip immersed in water is submitted to small amplitude volume oscillations. Its interface is imaged by means of a high-speed camera and its shape decomposed into spherical harmonics. The forcing frequency is varied over a large range including the frequencies of resonance of the three first modes of inertial shape oscillations. For a small drop, which remains almost spherical at rest, the geometrical constraint imposed by the attachment on the capillary tip causes the oscillation modes to be very different from those of a free drop. Surprisingly, the resonance of large drops is observed at the frequency predicted for a free, pure, and neutrally buoyant drop and mainly involves a single spherical harmonic; only the damping rate is observed to be moderately larger. Since it gives rise to oscillations close to this ideal case, the present experimental method could be used, complementary to quasi-static oscillation of a pendant drop, to investigate dynamic interfacial ...

Non-linear shape oscillations of rising drops and bubbles: Experiments and simulations

This paper focuses on shape-oscillations of a gas bubble or a liquid drop rising in another liquid. The bubble/drop is initially attached to a capillary and is released by a sudden motion of that capillary, resulting in the rise of the bubble/drop along with the oscillations of its shape. Such experimental conditions make difficult the interpretation of the oscillation dynamics with regard to the standard linear theory of oscillation because (i) amplitude of deformation is large enough to induce nonlinearities, (ii) the rising motion may be coupled with the oscillation dynamics, and (iii) clean conditions without residual surfactants may not be achieved. These differences with the theory are addressed by comparing experimental observation with numerical simulation. Simulations are carried out using Level-Set and Ghost-Fluid methods with clean interfaces. The effect of the rising motion is investigated by performing simulations under different gravity conditions. Using a decomposition of the bubble/drop shape into a series of spherical harmonics, experimental and numerical time evolutions of their amplitudes are compared. Due to large oscillation amplitude, non-linear couplings between the modes are evidenced from both experimental and numerical signals; modes of lower frequency influence modes of higher frequency, whereas the reverse is not observed. Nevertheless, the dominant frequency and overall damping rate of the first five modes are in good agreement with the linear theory. Effect of the rising motion on the oscillations is globally negligible, provided the mean shape of the oscillation remains close to a sphere. In the drop case, despite the residual interface contamination evidenced by a reduction in the terminal velocity, the oscillation dynamics is shown to be unaltered compared to that of a clean drop.

Inertia-driven particle migration and mixing in a wall-bounded laminar suspension flow

Laminar pressure-driven suspensionflows are studied in the situation of neutrally buoyant particles at finite Reynolds number. The numerical method is validated for homogeneous particle distribution (no lateral migration across the channel): the increase of particle slip velocities and particle stress with inertia and concentration is in agreement with former works in the literature. In the case of a two-phase channel flow with freely moving particles, migration towards the channel walls due to the Segre-Silberberg effect is observed, leading to the development of a non-uniform concentration profile in the wall-normal direction (the concentration peaks in the wall region and tends towards zero in the channel core). The particle accumulation in the region of highest shear favors the shear-induced particle interactions and agitation, the profile of which appears to be correlated to the concentration profile. A 1D model predicting particle agitation, based on the kinetic theory of granular flows in the quenched state regime when Stokes number St = O(1) and from numerical simulations when St < 1, fails to reproduce the agitation profile in the wall normal direction. Instead, the existence of secondary flows is clearly evidenced by long time simulations. These are composed of a succession of contra-rotating structures, correlated with the development of concentration waves in the transverse direction. The mechanism proposed to explain the onset of this transverse instability is based on the development of a lift force induced by spanwise gradient of the axial velocity fluctuations. The establishment of the concentration profile in the wall-normal direction therefore results from the combination of the mean flow Segre-Silberberg induced migration, which tends to stratify the suspension and secondary flows which tend to mix the particles over the channel cross section.

Analysis of Unsteady Lagrangian and Eulerian Characteristics of a Liquid Fluidized Bed by Direct Numerical Simulation

The characterization of fluidized beds is still a challenging task for macroscopic modeling issues and industrial applications. The macroscopic models require to be fed with parameters or laws that are not well understood or even impossible to estimate as soon as the solid fraction is larger than 0.1. The aim of the present work is to investigate Direct Numerical Simulation [1] of unsteady particle flows in order to solve all the time and space scales of the flow and the particles and to allow for the estimate of unknown macroscopic or stochastic characteristics of the flow. In the DNS, the particles are fully resolved, i.e. the particle diameter is larger than the grid size and to the smallest hydrodynamic scale. A benchmark experimental fluidized bed [2] is simulated and analyzed in terms of macroscopic and Lagrangian characteristics. Comparisons of numerical solutions to measurements are achieved with success.