Heat transport in a non-homothermal turbulent particle-laden flow in the collisional regime

Abstract

Abstract In this investigation, we explore the impact of particle collisions on turbulent heat flux within a temporally developing thermal mixing layer arising from the interaction of two homothermal regions driven by a statistically homogeneous and isotropic velocity field. Employing two-way thermally coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Direct Numerical Simulations (DNSs) at a Taylor microscale Reynolds number up to 124, we examine the influence of particle collisions for a Stokes number from 0.2 to 3, maintaining a fixed thermal to kinetic relaxation times ratio of 4.43. Our study quantifies the reduction in average heat transport induced by particle-to-particle collisions, which disrupt the temperature-velocity correlation created by the initial temperature difference. Notably, while collisions diminish this correlation, our analysis reveals their overall impact remains minor, even at the highest simulated Stokes number. Additionally, we present statistics of the temperature difference among colliding particles across various flow conditions.