Statistical Properties of the Intrinsic Geometry of Heavy-particle Trajectories in Two-dimensional, Homogeneous, Isotropic Turbulence

Abstract

We obtain, by extensive direct numerical simulations, trajectories of heavy inertial particles in two-dimensional, statistically steady, homogeneous, and isotropic turbulent flows, with friction. We show that the probability distribution function $\mathcal{P}(κ)$, of the trajectory curvature $κ$, is such that, as $κ\to \infty$, $\mathcal{P}(κ) \sim κ^{-h_{\rm r}}$, with $h_{\rm r} = 2.07 \pm 0.09$. The exponent $h_{\rm r}$ is universal, insofar as it is independent of the Stokes number ($\rm{St}$) and the energy-injection wave number. We show that this exponent lies within error bars of their counterparts for trajectories of Lagrangian tracers. We demonstrate that the complexity of heavy-particle trajectories can be characterized by the number $N_{\rm I}(t,{\rm St})$ of inflection points (up until time $t$) in the trajectory and $n_{\rm I} ({\rm St}) \equiv \lim_{t\to\infty} \frac{N_{\rm I} (t,{\rm St})}{t} \sim {\rm St}^{-Δ}$, where the exponent $Δ= 0.33 \pm0.02$ is also universal.

submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. The supplementary information is added as an appendix