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Power-Law Distributions of Particle concentrations in Free-Surface Turbulence

Larkin, Jason Michael (2009) Power-Law Distributions of Particle concentrations in Free-Surface Turbulence. Master's Thesis, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Particles floating on the surface of an incompressible turbulent fluid cluster into intermittent,complex structures. This system is studied experimentally by analyzing the statistics of thecoarse-grained particle concentration, cr, as a function of scale r, in both the inertial anddissipative regimes of the turbulent field. The first moment of the concentration cr exhibits scalefreedependence on the coarse-graining scale r in both the inertial and dissipative ranges, withexponents αi (inertial) and αd (dissipative). The probability density function of the coarse-grainedparticle concentration exhibits a power-law decay over a broad range of values of theconcentration: rr r c c  ( ) ~ , where r  is approximately independent of scale in the dissipativerange  0.8 0.05 r  , and decreases with increasing r in the inertial range. The PDF then fallsoff faster than algebraically at very large values of cr. The observed steep algebraic decay is amanifestation of the broad distribution of particle concentrations produced by surface flowupwellings (sources), which lie between very dense line-like concentrations along surface flowdownwellings (sinks).


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Details

Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Larkin, Jason Michaeljml37@pitt.eduJML37
ETD Committee:
TitleMemberEmail AddressPitt UsernameORCID
Committee ChairGoldburg, Walter Igoldburg@pitt.eduGOLDBURG
Committee MemberLee, Bong Jbjl39@pitt.eduBJL39
Committee MemberCho, Sung Kskcho@pitt.eduSKCHO
Date: 25 September 2009
Date Type: Completion
Defense Date: 17 July 2009
Approval Date: 25 September 2009
Submission Date: 22 July 2009
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: Swanson School of Engineering > Mechanical Engineering
Degree: MSME - Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Thesis Type: Master's Thesis
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: turbulence; fluid dynamics; dynamical systems
Other ID: http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-07222009-151837/, etd-07222009-151837
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2011 19:52
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2016 13:46
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8512

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