Turbulence statistics in a negatively buoyant multiphase plume

Abstract

We investigate the turbulence statistics in a multiphase plume made of heavy particles (particle Reynolds number at terminal velocity is 450). Using refractive-index-matched stereoscopic particle image velocimetry, we measure the locations of particles whose buoyancy drives the formation of a multiphase plume, together with the local velocity of the induced flow in the ambient salt–water. Measurements of the mean axial flow in the plume centreplane follow Gaussian profiles and that of the mean radial flow is consistent with integral plume theory. The turbulence characteristics resemble those measured in a bubble plume, including strong anisotropy in the normal Reynolds stresses. However, we observe structural differences between the two multiphase plumes. First, the skewness of the probability density function of the axial velocity fluctuations is not that which would be predicted by simply reversing the direction of a bubble plume. Second, in contrast to a bubble plume, the particle plume has a non-negligible fluid-shear production term in the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) budget. Third, the radial decay of all measured terms in the TKE budget is slower than those in a bubble plume. Despite these dissimilarities, a bigger picture emerges that applies to both flows. The TKE production by particles (or bubbles) roughly balances the viscous dissipation, except near the plume centreline. The one-dimensional power spectra of the velocity fluctuations show a -3 power law that puts both the particle and bubble plume in a category different from single-phase shear-flow turbulence..