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We investigate the dynamics of cohesive particles in homogeneous isotropic turbulence, based on one-way coupled simulations that include Stokes drag, lubrication, cohesive and direct contact forces. We observe a transient flocculation phase characterized by a growing average floc size, followed by a statistically steady equilibrium phase. We analyze the temporal evolution of floc size and shape due to aggregation, breakage, and deformation. Larger turbulent shear and weaker cohesive forces yield elongated flocs that are smaller in size. Flocculation proceeds most rapidly when the fluid and particle time scales are balanced and a suitably defined Stokes number is \textit{O}(1). During the transient stage, cohesive forces of intermediate strength produce flocs of the largest size, as they are strong enough to cause aggregation, but not so strong as to pull the floc into a compact shape. Small Stokes numbers and weak turbulence delay the onset of the equilibrium stage. During equilibrium, stronger cohesive forces yield flocs of larger size. The equilibrium floc size distribution exhibits a preferred size that depends on the cohesive number. We observe that flocs are generally elongated by turbulent stresses before breakage. Flocs of size close to the Kolmogorov length scale preferentially align themselves with the intermediate strain direction and the vorticity vector. Flocs of smaller size tend to align themselves with the extensional strain direction. More generally, flocs are aligned with the strongest Lagrangian stretching direction. The Kolmogorov scale is seen to limit floc growth. We propose a new flocculation model with a variable fractal dimension that predicts the temporal evolution of the floc size and shape., Comment: accepted for publication in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics

We present a detailed comparison of the rheological behaviour of sheared sediment beds in a pressure-driven, straight channel configuration based on data that was generated by means of fully coupled, grain-resolved direct numerical simulations and experimental measurements reviously published by Aussillous {\it et al.} (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 736, 2013, pp. 594-615). The highly-resolved simulation data allows to compute the stress balance of the suspension in the streamwise and vertical directions and the stress exchange between the fluid and particle phase, which is information needed to infer the rheology, but has so far been unreachable in experiments. Applying this knowledge to the experimental and numerical data, we obtain the statistically-stationary, depth-resolved profiles of the relevant rheological quantities. The scaling behavior of rheological quantities such as the shear and normal viscosities and the effective friction coefficient are examined and compared to data coming from rheometry experiments and from widely-used rheological correlations. We show that rheological properties that have previously been inferred for annular Couette-type shear flows with neutrally buoyant particles still hold for our setup of sediment transport in a Poiseuille flow and in the dense regime we found good agreement with empirical relationships derived therefrom. Subdividing the total stress into parts from particle contact and hydrodynamics suggests a critical particle volume fraction of 0.3 to separate the dense from the dilute regime. In the dilute regime, i.e., the sediment transport layer, long-range hydrodynamic interactions are screened by the porous media and the effective viscosity obeys the Einstein relation.

We propose a one-way coupled model that tracks individual primary particles in a conceptually simple cellular flow setup to predict flocculation in turbulence. This computationally efficient model accounts for Stokes drag, lubrication, cohesive and direct contact forces on the primary spherical particles and allows for a systematic simulation campaign that yields the transient mean floc size as a function of the governing dimensionless parameters. The simulations reproduce the growth of the cohesive flocs with time, and the emergence of a log-normal equilibrium distribution governed by the balance of aggregation and breakage. Flocculation proceeds most rapidly when the Stokes number of the primary particles is \textit{O}(1). Results from this simple computational model are consistent with experimental observations, thus allowing us to propose a new analytical flocculation model that yields improved agreement with experimental data, especially during the transient stages., Comment: Accepted for JFM Rapids, 10 pages, 5 figures

Environmental fluid mechanics underlies a wealth of natural, industrial and, by extension, societal challenges. In the coming decades, as we strive towards a more sustainable planet, there are a wide range of grand challenge problems that need to be tackled, ranging from fundamental advances in understanding and modeling of stratified turbulence and consequent mixing, to applied studies of pollution transport in the ocean, atmosphere and urban environments. A workshop was organized in the Les Houches School of Physics in France in January 2019 with the objective of gathering leading figures in the field to produce a road map for the scientific community. Five subject areas were addressed: multiphase flow, stratified flow, ocean transport, atmospheric and urban transport, and weather and climate prediction. This article summarizes the discussions and outcomes of the meeting, with the intent of providing a resource for the community going forward.

We develop a framework for analyzing the momentum balance of laminar particle-laden flows based on immersed boundary methods, which solve the Navier-Stokes equations and resolve the particle surfaces. This framework differs from previous studies by explicitly accounting for the fluid inside the particles, which is a by-product of the immersed boundary method, allowing us to close the momentum balance for the flow around a single rolling sphere. We then compute a momentum balance of a laminar Poiseuille flow over a dense bed of particles, finding that the stresses remain in equilibrium even during unsteady flow conditions. While previous studies have focused on stresses for the streamwise momentum balance, the present approach also allows us to evaluate stress balances in the vertical direction, which are necessary to understand the role that collisions and hydrodynamic drag play during dilation and contraction of particle beds. While our analysis accounts for the fluid and particle phases separately, we attempt to establish a momentum balance for the fluid/particle mixture, but find that it does not completely close locally due to collision stresses not being resolved across the particle diameter. However, we find a correlation between the local shear rate and the gap in the mixture balance, which can potentially be used to close the balance for the mixture., Comment: 39 pages

We develop a physical and computational model for performing fully coupled, particle-resolved Direct Numerical Simulations of cohesive sediment, based on the Immersed Boundary Method. The model distributes the cohesive forces over a thin shell surrounding each particle, thereby allowing for the spatial and temporal resolution of the cohesive forces during particle-particle interactions. The influence of the cohesive forces is captured by a single dimensionless parameter in the form of a cohesion number, which represents the ratio of cohesive and gravitational forces acting on a particle. We test and validate the cohesive force model for binary particle interactions in the Drafting-Kissing-Tumbling (DKT) configuration. The DKT simulations demonstrate that cohesive particle pairs settle in a preferred orientation, with particles of very different sizes preferentially aligning themselves in the vertical direction, so that the smaller particle is drafted in the wake of the larger one. To test this mechanism in a system of higher complexity, we perform large simulations of 1,261 polydisperse settling particles starting from rest. These simulations reproduce several earlier experimental observations by other authors, such as the accelerated settling of sand and silt particles due to particle bonding. The simulations demonstrate that cohesive forces accelerate the overall settling process primarily because smaller grains attach to larger ones and settle in their wakes. For the present cohesion number values, we observe that settling can be accelerated by up to 29%. We propose physically based parametrization of classical hindered settling functions proposed by earlier authors, in order to account for cohesive forces. An investigation of the energy budget shows that the work of the collision forces can substantially modify the relevant energy conversion processes., Comment: 39 pages

When particles settle through a stable temperature or salinity gradient they can drive an instability known as sedimentary fingering convection. This phenomenon is thought to occur beneath sediment-rich river plumes in lakes and oceans, in the context of marine snow where decaying organic materials serve as the suspended particles, or in the atmosphere in the presence of aerosols or volcanic ash. Laboratory experiments of Houk and Green (1973) and Green (1987) have shown sedimentary fingering convection to be similar to the more commonly known thermohaline fingering convection in many ways. Here, we study the phenomenon using 3D direct numerical simulations. We find evidence for layer formation in sedimentary fingering convection in regions of parameter space where it does not occur for non-sedimentary systems. This is due to two complementary effects. Sedimentation affects the turbulent fluxes and broadens the region of parameter space unstable to the $\gamma$-instability (Radko 2003) to include systems at larger density ratios. It also gives rise to a new layering instability that exists in $\gamma-$stable regimes. The former is likely quite ubiquitous in geophysical systems for sufficiently large settling velocities, while the latter probably grows too slowly to be relevant, at least in the context of sediments in water., Comment: Submitted to JFM

We propose a space flight experiment to study the dynamics of miscible interfaces. A less viscous fluid displaces one of higher viscosity within a tube. The two fluids are miscible in all proportions. An intruding "finger" forms that occupies a fraction of the tube. As time progresses diffusion at the interface combined with flow induced straining between the two fluids modifies the concentration and velocity distributions within the whole tube. Also, under such circumstances it has been proposed that the interfacial stresses could depend on the local concentration gradients (Korteweg stresses) and that the divergence of the velocity need not be zero, even though the flow is incompressible. We have obtained reasonable agreement for the tip velocity between numerical simulations (that ignored the Korteweg stress and divergence effects) and physical experiments only at high Peelet Numbers. However at moderate to low Pe agreement was poor. As one possibility we attributed this lack of agreement to the disregard of these effects. We propose a space experiment to measure the finger shape, tip velocity, and the velocity and concentration fields. From intercomparisons between the experiment and the calculations we can then extract values for the coefficients of the Korteweg stress terms and confirm or deny the importance of these stresses.