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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Visually Based Characterization of the Incipient Particle Motion in Regular Substrates: From Laminar to Turbulent Conditions
Published on: February 22, 2018
Clustering of charged inertial particles in turbulence
Jiang Lu1, Hansen Nordsiek, Ewe Wei Saw
1Department of Physics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan 49931, USA.
Abstract:
Holographic measurements of the clustering of electrically charged, inertial particles in homogenous and isotropic turbulent flow reveal novel particle dynamics. When particles are identically charged, Coulomb repulsion introduces a length scale below which inertial clustering is suppressed such that the radial distribution function (RDF) mimics that of a nonideal gas. The result is described with a Fokker-Planck framework modeling inertial clustering as a diffusion-drift process modified to include Coulomb interaction. The peak in the RDF is well predicted by the balance between the particle terminal velocity under Coulomb repulsion and a time-averaged "drift" velocity obtained from the nonuniform sampling of fluid strain and rotation due to finite particle inertia. The resulting functional form of the RDF matches the measurements closely, providing support for the drift-diffusion description of particle clustering.
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