Ambient Flow Properties of Kolmogorov-Length-Scale Size Non-Spherical Particles in Isotropic Turbulence

Abstract

A method to estimate the ambient flow encountered by ellipsoidal particles is assessed for 60,000 fully resolved Kolmogorov-length-scale size ellipsoidal particles. A sensitivity analysis is presented to provide confidence intervals of the estimation method and averaged near-particle flow patterns yield further information on the disturbances of the particles. The estimation method is based on filtering and can accurately determine the ambient fluid velocity encountered by the particles. However, the ambient fluid rotation rate and the shear rate are partially filtered, which is related to the finite size of the particles.