The motion of a spherical particle suspended in a turbulent flow near a plane wall

Abstract

Analytical solution of the equations of motion of a spherical particle suspended in a turbulent flow near a plane wall has been obtained. The equations include the lift force and wall effects on the drag force. The solution shows that the particle turbulent motion is affected by the wall presence in the following manner: (a) The wall augments the response of the particle to fluid turbulence. The ratio between the particle rms velocity fluctuation near the wall and that of an identical particle in an unbounded flow is always greater than unity. This ratio increases by increasing the particle density and diameter and decreasing the particle distance from the wall. (b) Wall effects in a direction normal to it are more pronounced than those in the parallel direction. This is attributed mainly to the lift force acting in the normal direction. (c) Effects of the drag force on particle intensity are confined close to the wall whereas the lift effects extend to larger distances.