A numerical study on statistical temporal scales in inertia particle dispersion

The statistical temporal scales involved in inertia particle dispersion are analyzed numerically. The numerical method of large eddy simulation, solving a filtered Navier–Stokes equation, is utilized to calculate fully developed turbulent channel flows with Reynolds numbers of 180 and 640, and the particle Lagrangian trajectory method is employed to track inertia particles released into the flow fields. The Lagrangian and Eulerian temporal scales are obtained statistically for fluid tracer particles and three different inertia particles with Stokes numbers of 1, 10 and 100. The Eulerian temporal scales, decreasing with the velocity of advection from the wall to the channel central plane, are smaller than the Lagrangian ones. The Lagrangian temporal scales of inertia particles increase with the particle Stokes number. The Lagrangian temporal scales of the fluid phase ‘seen’ by inertia particles are separate from those of the fluid phase, where inertia particles travel in turbulent vortices, due to the particle inertia and particle trajectory crossing effects. The effects of the Reynolds number on the integral temporal scales are also discussed. The results are worthy of use in examining and developing engineering prediction models of particle dispersion.