Direct numerical simulation of particle-fluid flows in turbulent mixing layer

The coherent structures of a three-dimensional temporally mixing layer and the associated dispersion patterns of particles are numerically studied using a pseudospectral method for fluid and the Lagrangian approach for tracing particles at different Stokes numbers without consideration of particle-particle interactions. The results show that the particles with Stokes number of the order of unity have the largest concentration near the outer edges of the large-scale spanwise vortex structures. The study validates the effect of the streamwise large-scale structures on the particle distribution along the spanwise and transverse directions and it enhances with the development of the three-dimensionality of the mixing layer, which results in a ‘mushroom’ shape of the particle distribution in the spanwise direction.