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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Particle-resolved study of the onset of turbulence

E. Joshi1,*, M. H. Thoma2, and M. Schwabe3

  • 1Institut für Materialphysik im Weltraum, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), 51147 Köln, Germany
  • 2I. Physikalisches Institut, Justus-Liebig Universität Gießen, 35392 Gießen, Germany
  • 3Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, 82234 Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany

  • *eshita.joshi@dlr.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 6, L012013 – Published 18 January, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.L012013

Abstract

The transition from laminar to turbulent flow is an immensely important topic that is still being studied. Here we show that complex plasmas, i.e., microparticles immersed in a low temperature plasma, make it possible to study the particle-resolved onset of turbulence under the influence of damping, a feat not possible with conventional systems. We performed three-dimensional (3D) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of complex plasmas flowing past an obstacle and observed 3D turbulence in the wake and forewake region of this obstacle. We found that we could reliably trigger the onset of turbulence by changing key parameters such as the flow speed and particle charge, which can be controlled in experiments, and show that the transition to turbulence follows the conventional pathway involving the intermittent emergence of turbulent puffs. The power spectra for fully developed turbulence in our simulations followed the −5/3 power law of Kolmogorovian turbulence in both time and space. We demonstrate that turbulence in simulations with damping occurs after the formation of shock fronts, such as bow shocks and Mach cones. By reducing the strength of damping in the simulations, we could trigger a transition to turbulence in an undamped system. This work opens the pathway to detailed experimental and simulation studies of the onset of turbulence on the level of the carriers of the turbulent interactions, i.e., the microparticles.

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Phys. Rev. Research 6, L012013– Published 18 January, 2024
  • Received 13 June 2023
  • Accepted 13 October 2023
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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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