Experimental study on the interaction between particles and coherent structures in dilute liquid–solid two-phase turbulent boundary layer

In order to reveal the modulation of particles on turbulent coherent structures and particle concentration variations induced by turbulence, particle image velocimetry experiments were performed in a dilute liquid–solid two-phase turbulent boundary layer. Large-scale coherent structures, including streaks and hairpin vortices, were extracted in the liquid–solid two-phase turbulent boundary layer by using multiple methods, such as proper orthogonal decomposition and finite-time Lyapunov exponent. The results showed that the addition of particles thickened the buffer layer of the average velocity profile, weakened the streamwise turbulence intensity at y+ > 10, strengthened the wall-normal turbulence in the near wall region (y+ < 52), and weakened the Reynolds stress in the logarithmic law region. A more thorough study of the turbulent structure revealed that the particles caused the mean spacing of the near-wall streak structure to increase, hairpin vortex migration to slow down, the uplift of hairpin vortex to be suppressed, and the overall size of the hairpin vortex packet to be compressed. This demonstrated that particles could modulate turbulence by inhibiting the development of hairpin vortices.