Effect of Particle Inertia in Particulate Density Currents

Abstract

In this work we address the effect of particle inertia in particulate density currents. First we introduce a novel tow-fluid model based on the equilibrium Eulerian approach [6]. The resulting model captures very important physics of two-phase flows, such as preferential concentration and migration of particles down turbulence gradients (turbophoresis), which modify substantially the structure and dynamics of the flow. We solve the mathematical model with a highly accurate spectral code, capturing all the length and time scales of the flow. We present two-dimensional simulations in planar configuration for Grashof Gr=1.5×106. In the simulation results we observe the particles to migrate from the core of Kelvin—Helmholtz vortices shed from the front of the current and to accumulate in the current head, which affects the propagation speed of the front.