Energy Transport in a Shear Flow of Particles in a 2D Dusty Plasma

Abstract

A shear flow of particles in a laser-driven two-dimensional (2D) dusty plasma are observed in a further study of viscous heating and thermal conduction. Video imaging and particle tracking yields particle velocity data, which we convert into continuum data, presented as three spatial profiles: mean particle velocity (i.e., flow velocity), mean-square particle velocity, and mean-square fluctuations of particle velocity. These profiles and their derivatives allow a spatially-resolved determination of each term in the energy and momentum continuity equations, which we use for two purposes. First, by balancing these terms so that their sum (i.e., residual) is minimized while varying viscosity $\eta$ and thermal conductivity $\kappa$ as free parameters, we simultaneously obtain values for $\eta$ and $\kappa$ in the same experiment. Second, by comparing the viscous heating and thermal conduction terms, we obtain a spatially-resolved characterization of the viscous heating.