Equilibrium position of a rigid sphere in a turbulent jet: A problem of elastic reconfiguration.

ABSTRACT

The position of floating spheres trapped within an immersed turbulent water jet is investigated. Using the self-similarity properties of the jet velocity profile, the equilibrium problem is formulated in a rescaled space where the sphere is static and deformable. This approach is found to be related to a problem of elastic reconfiguration where elasticity arises here from the geometry of the flow instead of an actual deformation of a body.