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Experimental study on growth and spread of dispersed particle-laden plume in a linearly stratified environment

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Abstract

We present results of laboratory experiments conducted to study the evolution, growth, and spreading rate of a dispersed particle-laden plume produced by a constant inflow into a density varying environment. Particles having mean size, \(d_p=100\ \upmu \)m, density \(\rho _p=2500 \ {\text{ kg/m}}^3\), volume fraction, \(\phi _v =\) 0–0.7 % , were injected along with the lighter buoyant fluid into a linearly stratified medium. It was observed that a particle-laden plume intruding at the neutral density layer is characterized by four spreading regimes: (i) radial momentum flux balanced by the inertia force; (ii) inertia buoyancy regime; (iii) fluid-particle inertia regime, and (iv) viscous buoyancy regime. Regimes (i), (ii), and (iv) are similar to that of a single-phase plume, for which \(\phi _v = 0\,\%\). The maximum height, \(Z_m\), for \(\phi _v > 0\,\%\) was observed to be consistently lower than the single-phase case. An empirical parameterization was developed for the maximum height for particle-laden case, and was found to be in very good agreement with the experimental data. In the inertia buoyancy regime, the radial spread of the plume, \(R_f\), for \(\phi _v > 0\,\%\), advanced in time as \(R_f \propto t^{0.68 \pm 0.02}\) which is slower compared to the single-phase plume that propagates at \(R_f \propto t^{0.74 \pm 0.02}\). Due to the presence of particles, ‘particle fall out’ effect occurs, which along with the formation of a secondary umbrella region inhibits the spreading rate and results in slower propagation of the particle-laden plume. The effect of particles on spreading height of plume, \(Z_s\), and thickness of the plume, \(h_p\), were also studied, and these results were compared with the single-phase case. Overall from these experiments, it was found that the evolution, growth, and spread of dispersed particle-laden plume is very different from that of the single-phase plume, and presence of low concentration of particles (\( \phi _v < 1\,\%\)) could have significant effects on the plume dynamics.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge funding from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Ministry of Earth Sciences for the present research work.

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Correspondence to Sridhar Balasubramanian.

Appendix

Appendix

The density profile measured using the conductivity probe in the stratified tank (T2) is shown in Fig. 15.

Fig. 15
figure 15

Density profile in the stratification tank measured using the conductivity probe

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Mirajkar, H.N., Tirodkar, S. & Balasubramanian, S. Experimental study on growth and spread of dispersed particle-laden plume in a linearly stratified environment. Environ Fluid Mech 15, 1241–1262 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-015-9412-5

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