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  • Open Access

Dispersed-phase forcing reorganizes Lagrangian intermittency in turbulence

Zecai Zhou1, Hendrik Hessenkemper1, Andrew D. Bragg2,*, and Tian Ma1,†

  • *Contact author: andrew.bragg@duke.edu
  • †Contact author: tian.ma@hzdr.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023338 – Published 25 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2mbp-qg6b

Abstract

In single-phase turbulence, fluctuations in the Lagrangian velocity increments become more extreme as the timescale τ decreases, leading to the strongest fluctuations as τ→0. Using high-resolution three-dimensional Lagrangian particle tracking experiments, we find that for turbulent flows where bubbles force the flow, Lagrangian intermittency fundamentally changes. The strongest intermittency occurs at intermediate τ, and the flatness of the velocity increments far exceeds that of single-phase turbulence at comparable Reynolds numbers. We demonstrate that this behavior originates from strong deflections of tracer trajectories due to vortex trapping events at the boundaries of bubble wakes. This reveals that unlike in single-phase turbulence where nonlinearity alone generates small-scale internal intermittency, bubble-driven turbulence exhibits a hybrid mechanism in which external intermittency introduced at the bubble scale cooperates with internal intermittency processes to produce extreme fluctuations at intermediate timescales. The mechanism suggests that dispersed-phase forcing can fundamentally reshape Lagrangian intermittency across a broad class of dispersed multiphase and particle-laden turbulent flows.

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Outline

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023338– Published 25 June, 2026
  • Received 12 December 2025
  • Accepted 3 June 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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