Abstract
We investigate the dynamics of an ensemble of discrete aerosol droplets in a homogeneous, isotropic turbulent flow. Our focus is on the stationary distribution
of droplet sizes that develops as a result of evaporation and condensation effects. For
this purpose we simulate turbulence in a domain with periodic boundary conditions using
pseudo-spectral discretization. We solve in addition equations for the temperature and
for a scalar field, which represents the background humidity against which the size of the
droplets evolves. We apply large-scale forcing of the velocity field to reach a statistically
steady state. The droplets are transported by the turbulent field while exchanging heat and
mass with the evolving temperature and humidity fields. In this Euler-Lagrange framework,
we assume the droplets volume fraction to be sufficiently low to allow one-way coupling
of the droplets and turbulence dynamics. The motion of the droplets is time-accurately
tracked. The Stokes drag force is included in the equation of motion of the individual
droplets. The responsiveness of the droplets to small turbulent scales is directly related to
the size of the individual spherical droplets. We perform direct numerical simulation to
ultimately obtain the probability density function of the evolving radius of the droplets at
different points in time with characteristic heat and mass transfer parameters. We determine the gradual convergence of the distribution function to its statistically stationary
state for forced homogeneous, isotropic turbulence.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics, ECCOMAS CFD 2010 |
| Editors | A. Sequeira J.C.F. Pereira, J.M. Pereira |
| Pages | 1-10 |
| Publication status | Published - 2010 |
| Event | 5th European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (ECCOMAS CFD 2010) - Lisbon, Portugal Duration: 14 Jun 2010 → 17 Jun 2010 Conference number: 5 http://www.eccomas-cfd2010.org/ |
Conference
| Conference | 5th European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (ECCOMAS CFD 2010) |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | ECCOMAS CFD 2010 |
| Country/Territory | Portugal |
| City | Lisbon |
| Period | 14/06/10 → 17/06/10 |
| Internet address |