Particle spin in a turbulent shear flow

Abstract

The translational and rotational motions of small spherical particles dilutely suspended in a turbulent channel flow have been investigated. Three different particle classes were studied in an Eulerian-Lagrangian framework to examine the effect of the response times on the particle statistics. The results for the fluctuating particle velocities were consistent with earlier observations. The mean particle spin exceeded the mean fluid angular velocity in a region close to the channel walls. The fluctuating components of the particle spin were consistently lower than the corresponding fluid angular velocities for the heaviest particles.