Large-eddy simulation of horizontally discharging sediment-laden jets

• Horizontally discharging momentum and buoyant particle-laden jets are computed.
• The computation uses large eddy simulation and Lagrangian particle tracking.
• A strong correlation exists between particle clustering and large turbulence eddies.
• The large jet eddies play a dominating role in particle transport.

Horizontally discharging jets laden with sediment particles are investigated numerically. The computation of the fluid phase is conducted by Large Eddy Simulation (LES) while Lagrangian particle tracking is used to calculate the motion of sediment particles. Both momentum and buoyant discharge cases of sediment-laden jets are simulated. The computational results reveal that the advecting large eddies are responsible for the formation and the transport of high-concentration particle patches in the jet flows. For a horizontally discharging buoyant jet, it is observed that there exists a significant correlation of particle abundance and high turbulence intensity in the lower outer layer of the jet flow when its trajectory is deflected by buoyancy. The investigation of the instantaneous vorticity fields shows that the particle transport in horizontal sediment jets are large associated with the large eddies in the flow.