Investigation of turbulent flow induced by particle sedimentation using RIM-PIV

Abstract

The spatiotemporal structure of the flow field during particle–cloud sedimentation has not been sufficiently investigated. In this study, experiments on the sedimentation process of particle clouds in water are conducted using hydrogel particles with a refractive index similar to that of water as the settling particles. The flow field during the sedimentation process of particle clouds in water is measured using particle image velocimetry (PIV). Although the measurement conditions in this study are restricted to one condition owing to the limitations of the measurable area by our PIV system and the available hydrogel particles, the measurement target is novel because it has not been measured so far. The spatiotemporal structure of the turbulent flows is investigated by analyzing the turbulent flows induced by the sedimentation particles using the PIV system. Furthermore, the turbulent structure of the vortex formed by particle sedimentation is examined.