2014/07/09 by Steven Wang, Wang, Steven, Robert L. Stewart +5
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #Fluid Dynamics and Turbulent Flows #Granular flow and fluidized beds #Particle Dynamics in Fluid Flows #physics.flu-dyn
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1407.2331
13 pages, 6 figures
arxiv created 2014/07/09 · openalex publication_date 2014/07/09 · arxiv updated 2014/07/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The dynamical system for inertial particles in fluid flow has both attracting and repelling regions, the interplay of which can localize particles. In laminar flow experiments we find that particles, initially moving throughout the fluid domain, can undergo an instability and cluster into subdomains of the fluid when the flow Reynolds number exceeds a critical value that depends on particle and fluid inertia. We derive an expression for the instability boundary and for a universal curve that describes the clustering rate for all particles.