Homogenization for inertial particles in a random flow

We study the problem of homogenization for inertial particles moving in a time-dependent random velocity field and subject to molecular diffusion. We show that, under appropriate assumptions on the velocity field, the large-scale, long-time behavior of the inertial particles is governed by an effective diffusion equation for the position variable alone. This is achieved by the use of a formal multiple scales expansion in the scale parameter. The expansion relies on the hypoellipticity of the underlying diffusion. An expression for the diffusivity tensor is found and various of its properties are studied. The results of the formal multiscale analysis are justified rigorously by the use of the martingale central limit theorem. Our theoretical findings are supported by numerical investigations where we study the parametric dependence of the effective diffusivity on the various non-dimensional parameters of the problem.

Keywords

homogenization theory, multiscale analysis, martingale central limit theorem, hypoelliptic diffusions, Gaussian velocity fields

2010 Mathematics Subject Classification

60G15, 60H10, 60H15, 60H30

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Published 1 January 2007