
296
T.
Sapsis and C. Haller
2
Attracting
invariant
manifolds
for
inertial
particles
For two-dimensional, steady, flows
the
motion
of
inertial
particles
is governed
by
the
autonomous,
two-dimensional
ODE
(4) from which powerful conclu-
sions
about
the
asymptotic
nature
of
finite-size
particles
can
be
concluded
(cf.
Rubin
et
al.
[9],
Haller
and
Sapsis
[6]).
In
what
follows we provide a
general
result
for
three-dimensional,
volume
preserving
flows
having
a family
of
invariant
manifolds
concerning
the
persistence
of
these
slow manifolds
as
attractors
for
inertial
particles.
Theorem
1.
Let
u (x)
be
a three-dimensional, autonomous, volume-
preserving, vector field and
So
a compact, two-dimensional, invariant mani-
fold, with
unitary
normal vector
fi.
(x) on which the
motion
is non-resonant.
Mor-eover,
we
assume that
Ilu
(x)11
> 0 for all x ESo. Then a necessary con-
dition for the persistence
of
So
as
an invariant manifold for inertial particles
is
e
R
-1)
iT
Du
I (So)
==
lim 2
Ilu
(ip
(t, xo))ll
fi.
(ip
(t, xo)) -
(ip
(t, xo)) dt = 0
T--+CXJ
T 0
Dt
(5)
where xoESo.
In
this case the flow on
So
is ergodic with probability density
function
for
the position
of
an inertial par-ticle on
So
given by
f(x)
=
Iso
Ilu(Y)II-1d!r(y)'
x ESo.
(6)
Proof.
Let
SE
be
a
compact,
two-dimensional,
invariant
manifold
with
a well
defined
interior
for
the
steady
inertial
equation
(4). We
assume
that
SE
varies
smoothly
for f
:::0:
O.
The
phase
space
volume
bounded
by
SE
does
not
change
in
time,
therefore
r \7.
[u
(x) + f
(3R
_
1)
Du
(x)
+
0(f
2
)]
dV
(x)
Jlnt(S,)
2
Dt
= f
(3R
_
1)
r \7.
[DU
(x) +
O(f)]
dV
(x)
2
Jlnt(S,)
Dt
Dividing by f
and
taking
the
f
---+
0 limit, we
obtain
that
1
Du
(x)
\7·--dV
(x) = 0
Int(So)
Dt
must
hold for
the
compact
streamsurface
So
of u (x).
By
applying
the
diver-
gence
theorem
on
Int(So)
we
obtain
1
Du
(x) 1
Du
(x)
~
\7·--dV
(x) =
--n
(x)da
(x) = 0
Int(So)
Dt
So
Dt