Lagrangian study of the particle transport past a lateral, open-channel cavity

This paper presents a Lagrangian laboratory study of the passive tracer transport in and around a lateral, open-channel (square) cavity. Using 3D-particle tracking velocimetry (PTV), the trajectories of neutrally buoyant seeding particles are measured and analyzed to investigate the processes governing the particle exchanges between the cavity and the adjacent main stream for a selected subcritical flow condition. The tracked particles are classified using a Lagrangian approach based on their start and end positions, i.e., the cavity or the main stream region. Next, the spatial distribution of the particles at the main stream-cavity interface is analyzed to distinguish the typical transport processes of the different particle classes and identify preferential zones of net particle inflow, net particle outflow, and local zigzagging across the interface. Finally, this paper investigates the influence of the zigzag motion of particles on the (net) mass exchange coefficient. Derived from the same 3D-PTV dataset, a comparison between the common Eulerian (velocity-based) and Lagrangian mass exchange coefficients suggests that the transverse velocity method overestimates the net exchange significantly because of the particle zigzag motions.