Transport of Non-Spherical Particles in Turbulence: Application of the LBM

Direct numerical simulations of the motion of volume equivalent single cylindrical particles with axis ratios of 1, 2, 3, and 4 and Stokes numbers of 1, 2, 4, and 40 in a homogeneous isotropic turbulent flow field are presented. The forced turbulent flow is simulated using the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM). It is observed that the rms velocity and the rms angular velocity in longitudinal and in radial direction are identical for every particle, even though the rms forces can differ more than 100% and the rms torque more than 1000% in both directions. However, these differences in force and torque result in a different short-time behaviour of the particle in longitudinal and in radial direction. The rms particle velocity is found to decrease with increasing axis ratio and the rms particle angular velocity to have a maximum at an axis ratio of about 2.5. The ratio of the rms velocity of the particle to that of the fluid decreases with increasing Stokes number as well as the ratio between the rms angular velocities, as one could expect.