Universal flapping states of elastic fibers in modulated turbulence

We study the fully coupled dynamics between a fully developed turbulent flow and an ensemble of immersed flexible fibers. We vary the concentration of the suspension, the mechanical properties, and the length of the fibers in a vast parametric range. For all configurations, the fiber dynamics falls in only two possible dynamical states: (i) the fiber manifests its natural response to the flow forcing or (ii) its motion fully synchronizes to the hydrodynamic timescales of the turbulent flow. This scenario holds for both a dilute condition, where the carrier flow is not affected by the fluid-structure interaction, as well as in the case where the flow is substantially altered by the presence of immersed objects. Such a backreaction effect can be macroscopically modeled in terms of the mass fraction of the suspension. Our results can be readily extended to any elastic objects interacting with fluid turbulence.