We study the effects of finite-sizeness on small, neutrally buoyant, spherical particles advected by open chaotic flows. We show that, when observed in the configuration or physical space, the advected finite-size particles disperse about the unstable manifold of the chaotic saddle that governs the passive advection. Using a discrete-time system for the dynamics, we obtain an expression predicting the dispersion of the finite-size particles in terms of their Stokes parameter at the onset of the finite-size induced dispersion. We test our theory in a system derived from a flow and find remarkable agreement between our expression and the numerically measured dispersion.

• Received 10 June 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.73.026302