Experimental evidence of how the fractal structure controls the hydrodynamic resistance on granular aggregates moving through water

- Fabricated fractal aggregates were tested in free-fall experiments.
- Kinematic and dynamic quantities were retrieved experimentally.
- A resistance was identified that was directly correlated with the fractal dimension.
- Hypotheses were tested on whether this resistance was a drag or an inertial force.

SummaryA comprehensive set of experiments was carried out to investigate the effect of the fractal architecture of granular aggregates on the free-fall acceleration through a still water column. Test aggregates were first generated numerically with a method that allowed to control the fractal dimension d and, next, three stochastic replicates were lithographically fabricated for each of six values of d ranging between 1.9 and 2.7. The recorded position, velocity and acceleration served to analyze their dynamics in the Reynolds and Galilei number space, and to calculate the momentum rate of change and the intensity of drag (viscous and impact) and inertial forces (added mass and Basset-Bousinnesq). Analysis of these forces highlighted a strong dependence on d; additionally, integration of these forces in the particle momentum equation allowed to identify an additional resistance Rx that showed a strong correlation with d. A correlation analysis of Rx with various scaling laws combining velocity and acceleration suggested that Rx could be described by a nonlinear drag force and a force intermediate between drag and inertia. It was therefore concluded that irregular granular fractal aggregates accelerating in water are subject to highly complex and nonlinear hydrodynamic effects caused by surface roughness and volume porosity, and that these effects have tight connection with the internal and external fractal characteristics of the aggregates.