INVESTIGATION OF TURBULENCE IN GRANULAR FLOW

1 online resource (93 pages) : PDF

2017

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Granular flow poses interesting questions in terms of both theoretical and applied mechanics. The increased utilization of vibrational finishing processes in the manufacturing of high precision components has resulted in an increased need to understand the behavior of granular fluids, particularly how granular fluids behave in vortex dominated turbulent flow. In this study, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) velocity data of various granular media flows are used to obtain the turbulence spectra. The turbulence spectra obtained for the various granular media are compared to the Kolmogorov turbulence spectrum observed in the flow of molecular liquids, to gain a greater understanding of how granular media behave in turbulent flow relative to the behavior of molecular liquids. The turbulence spectra obtained in this study show that the granular media flows analyzed exhibited similar vortex breakdown and energy dissipation to what is normally observed in the turbulent flow of molecular liquids, therefore demonstrating that densely packed granular media behave similarly to molecular liquids when undergoing turbulent flow. These findings provide strong evidence to support the hypothesis that the observable random grain dynamics in densely packed grain media are equivalent to the unobservable random molecular dynamics present in the turbulent flow of molecular liquids.

masters theses

Mechanical engineering
Mechanics
Engineering

M.S.

Fluid Dynamics
Granular Flow
Kolmogorov's Theory of Turbulence
Particle Image Velocimetry
Turbulence Spectrum
Vibratory Finishing

Mechanical Engineering

Keanini, Russell

Tabarraei, Alireza
Tkacik, Peter
Kakad, Yogendra

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2017.

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Abdelrahman_uncc_0694N_11396

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:213