Experiments on inertial particles in turbulent flows under microgravity.

The dynamics of inertial particles in turbulent flows is composed of several physical ingredients that are entangled by gravity; namely particle settling and particle-turbulence couplings. Thus the study of particle-laden turbulent flows in a microgravity environment disentangles these effects and allows to successfully measure particle-turbulence couplings effects, independently of gravity effects.

To achieve this a dedicated experimental device that produces nearly homogeneous and isotropic turbulence (HIT) through the interaction of 8 water jets in a cylindrical water tank was designed. Particularly, particle trajectories inside the tank are measured using a 3-camera PTV system. The experimental device was conceived to fit in the Dryden Drop Tower at Portland State University, which provides 2.1 seconds of microgravity.

In this talk we will present preliminary experimental results on the Lagragian dynamics of particles in microgravity.