Effect of channel dimensions and Reynolds numbers on the turbulence modulation for particle-laden turbulent channel flows

Abstract

The addition of particles to turbulent flows changes the underlying mechanism of turbulence and leads to turbulence modulation. The important parameters are particle Stokes number, mass loading, particle Reynolds number, fluid bulk Reynolds number, etc., that act together and affect the fluid phase turbulence intensities. In the present study, simulations are carried out for different system sizes (2δ/dp=54,81, and 117) and fluid bulk Reynolds numbers (Reb = 5600 and 13 750) to quantify the extent of turbulence attenuation. Here, δ is the half-channel width, dp is the particle diameter, and Reb is the fluid Reynolds number based on the fluid bulk velocity and channel width. Our study shows that system size and fluid bulk Reynolds number are the two crucial parameters that affect the particle feedback force and turbulence modulation more significantly than the other. The extent of turbulence attenuation increases with an increase in system size for the same volume fraction while keeping the Reynolds number fixed. However, for the same volume fraction and fixed channel dimension, the extent of attenuation is low at a higher Reynolds number. The streamwise turbulent structures are observed to become lengthier and fewer with an increase in system size for the same volume fraction and fixed bulk Reynolds number. However, the streamwise high-speed streaks are smaller, thinner, and closely spaced for higher Reynolds numbers than the lower ones for the same volume fraction. Particle phase velocity statistics for different cases have also been reported.