Spectral analysis of dispersed multiphase flows in the presence of fluid interfaces

Spectral analysis of dispersed two-phase flows is highly desirable to reveal the interplay of the various flow scales, much larger or much smaller than the size of the dispersed bodies. This is a challenging task as the matching conditions at the body interfaces generate singularities in the fields describing the two-phase mixture. The nature of these singularities and their consequences on the spectra are theoretically analyzed for bubble or droplet flows. Results of direct numerical simulations are reported and spatial spectra of the mixture velocity, the flow forces and their power are examined. The regular part of the spectral densities of energy production, dissipation and transfers between scales are separated from their singular part. The resulting spectral energy balance, free of the footprint of the singularities, is found in agreement with coarse-grained simulations where the interfaces are filtered out before solving the Navier–Stokes equations. These results pave the way for the spectral analysis of more complex turbulent dispersed flows. [Display omitted] •Spectral analysis of dispersed two-phase flows is complicated by discontinuities at interfaces.•The theoretical footprints of various field singularities at sharp interfaces are determined.•Energy spectrum and spectral energy budget calculated from DNS of a swarm of rising bubbles.•A method for separating the regular and singular parts of the spectra is proposed.•The regular part of DNS spectra is in good agreement with that of Coarse-Grained Simulations.