What is it about?
Turbulent flow in porous media constitutes a new physical phenomenon exhibiting dual characteristics of both confined and free flows. We show that this type of flow spontaneously breaks symmetry upon laminar-turbulent transition due to flow instability, leading to persistent asymmetric flow patterns in intermediate porosity regimes.
Featured Image
Photo by CasSa Paintings on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Turbulent flow in porous media is observed in various applications, including heat exchangers, environmental flows, and certain aerodynamic systems. By gaining a deeper understanding of the flow physics at the microscale, we can enhance our ability to predict flow behavior at the system level. In this discussion, we explore how instabilities can significantly alter flow distribution under specific geometric conditions.
Perspectives
Persistent symmetry-breaking in porous media has now been shown for a wide range of porosities in both simulation and experiment (other researchers). Significant work must still be done to integrate this into robust macro scale models.
Vishal Srikanth
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Symmetry breaking of turbulent flow due to asymmetric vortex shedding in periodic porous media, Physics of Fluids, June 2025, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/5.0266758.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
