Abstract

Turbulent mixing and phase-separation of two or more fluids is an important physical process that has wide-ranging applications, including natural phenomena (ocean mixing) as well as in various small—scale human technologies. Fluid mixing is a multiscale process, in which mass and momentum exchange takes place in a highly nonlinear fashion in space and time. In the first half of this talk, I shall describe my research on turbulent phase-separation in multiphase fluid systems, using a time-dependent Ginzburg Landau formulation. I will show how a mathematical study of multiphase systems using the Ginzburg Landau method uncovers universal features of two-fluid mixing and phase separation. In the second half of my talk, I will describe an analytical moment closure model of the turbulent energy fluctuations in a multiphase system. The analytical turbulence model bridges the gap between theory and numerics of fluid mixing, and describes important phenomena such as transition to turbulence. Lastly, I will shed some light on my future research as to how the use of analytical models, numerical simulations and recently developed data—driven techniques will help to uncover new physics for important real—world applications.