Inertial particles in turbulence

Inertial particles, droplets and bubbles moving in turbulent flows are central to a wide range of natural and engineered systems, from aerosol and pollutant transport in the atmosphere to two-phase flows in industrial and propulsion systems such as solid-propellant rocket engines. Because their inertia decouples them from the surrounding fluid motion, these particles sample turbulence unevenly, cluster preferentially, and interact with walls and density interfaces in ways that simple fluid tracers do not. We study their Lagrangian trajectories using 3D particle tracking velocimetry and machine-learning analysis of the resulting data, across a range of turbulent flow conditions and setups, including near-wall resuspension and entrainment, deposition, and crossing of density interfaces.

Selected publications

H. Traugott, A. Liberzon (2017), "Experimental study of forces on freely moving spherical particles during resuspension into turbulent flow", International Journal of Multiphase Flow.

L. Simon Keren, T. Lazebnik, A. Liberzon (2024), "Improved prediction of settling behavior of solid particles through machine learning analysis of experimental retention time data", International Journal of Multiphase Flow.

C. Mortenfeld, M. van Reeuwijk, A. Littman, A. Liberzon (2026, preprint), "Hydrodynamic coupling and retention time of inertial spheres crossing and bouncing at density interfaces", SSRN preprint.

S. Kalenko, A. Liberzon (2020, preprint), "Particle-turbulence interaction of high Stokes number irregular shape particles in accelerating flow: a rocket-engine model", engrXiv preprint.