Caustics in turbulent aerosols

Wilkinson, M. and Mehlig, B (2005). Caustics in turbulent aerosols. Europhysics Letters, 71(2) pp. 186–192.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2004-10532-7

Abstract

Networks of caustics can occur in the distribution of particles suspended in a randomly moving gas. These can facilitate coagulation of particles by bringing them into close proximity, even in cases where the trajectories do not coalesce. We show that the long-time morphology of these caustic patterns is determined by the Lyapunov exponents lambda_1, lambda_2 of the suspended particles, as well as the rate J at which particles encounter caustics. We develop a theory determining the quantities J, lambda_1, lambda_2 from the statistical properties of the gas flow, in the limit of short correlation times.

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About

• Item ORO ID
• 2440
• Item Type
• Journal Item
• ISSN
• 0295-5075
• Keywords
• fluctuation phenomena; random processes; noise; Brownian motion; turbulent diffusion; fluid dynamics; pattern selection; pattern formation
• Academic Unit or School
• Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) > Mathematics and Statistics
  Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
• Depositing User
• Michael Wilkinson