Investigation of unsteady processes,flow properties,and tonal acoustic radiation of a swirling jet

The results of an investigation of the unsteady flow structure in a turbulent swirling jet obtained using the PIV technology are presented. The greater part of the measurements is carried out at the swirl intensity W ₀ ≈ 1.7. A part of the data is obtained under other conditions of the swirl jet outflow. To establish the relation between disturbances of different types the phase averaging technique is employed with the pressure fluctuation in the acoustic field of the jet taken as a reference signal. The flow structure is numerically calculated. The results of the investigation show that a quasisteady inhomogeneity observable in the jet flow executes rotational motion relative to the mean flowfield in the jet cross-section, or “precession”. It causes disturbances in the flow ejected by the jet, which transform into acoustic disturbances far away from the jet. The frequencies of the dynamic disturbances near the jet and the acoustic disturbances far away from it coincide with the precession frequency.     

Dynamics of heavy particles in two swirling jets

We report flow visualisations and laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) velocity measurements in the near field of two swirling jets. The Reynolds number based on jet diameter and bulk velocity at the nozzle exit is 1.4 × 10⁵. In the first jet, a small recirculation region is formed around the jet axis, while, in the second, the streamwise velocity remains positive and overshoots near the jet centre. In both cases, flow visualisations show that the vortex core of the jets is depleted of seeding particles. By using time-averaged distributions of the streamwise and tangential velocities measured at the nozzle outlet, the dynamics of the particles is simulated, by integrating their simplified equations of motion. The particles trajectory thus computed agrees well with that observed in the flow visualisations. Although the turbulence intensity is substantially different in the core of the two jets, its effect on the seeding concentration is localised near the edge of the core.     

Phase-locked analysis of velocity fluctuations in a turbulent free swirling jet after vortex breakdown

Large-scale organized vortical structures were studied experimentally in a free swirling jet of air experiencing vortex precession (PVC) at ambient conditions. Detailed measurements were performed in the region near the nozzle exit using phase-locked LDV and PIV, at a Reynolds number of Re ?? 24,400 and a swirl parameter S ?? 1.0. The investigation allowed reconstruction of the time-averaged flowfield, with the associated distribution of turbulent fluctuations, the phase-locked structure of the jet and the associated precessing vortex structure. An original joint analysis of power spectra and probability density functions of velocity data led to quantification of the PVC effect on turbulent fluctuations. This analysis showed that the PVC contribution can be properly separated from the background random turbulence, reproducing the results of phase-locked measurements. It is found that the background turbulence in the near field is substantially weaker if compared to the coherent fluctuations induced by vortex precession.     

PIV measurements of a turbulent jet issuing from round sharp-edged plate

An experimental investigation is presented of a turbulent jet issuing from a round sharp-edged orifice plate (OP) into effectively unbounded surroundings. Planar measurements of velocity were conducted using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) in the near and transition regions. The Reynolds number, based on the jet initial diameter and velocity, is approximately 72,000. The instantaneous and mean velocities, Reynolds normal and shear stresses were obtained. The centerline velocity decay and the half-velocity radius were derived from the mean velocity. It is revealed that primary coherent structures occur in the near field of the OP jet and that they are typically distributed asymmetrically with respect to the nozzle axis. Comparison of the present PIV and previous hot-wire measurements for the OP jet suggests that high initial turbulence intensity leads to reduced rates of decay and spread of the mean flow field and moreover a lower rate of variation of the turbulence intensity. Results also show that self-similarity of the mean flow is well established from the transition region while the turbulent statistics are far from self-similar within the measured range to 16 diameters.     

Experimental analysis of the precessing vortex core in a free swirling jet

An experimental analysis of the precessing vortex core (PVC) instability in a free swirling jet of air at ambient pressure and temperature is performed by means of laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) and particle image velocimetry (PIV). Two parametric studies are considered, varying the swirl parameter and the Reynolds number. The range of parameters considered allowed to study conditions of strong precession as well as the inception and settlement of the instability. Mean velocity and standard deviation profiles, power spectral density functions and probability density functions for the axial and tangential velocity components are presented. Average as well as instantaneous PIV maps are considered in the characterization of the flowfield structure and detection of the instantaneous position of the vortex center. Joint analysis of velocity PDFs and power spectra shows that the PVC contribution to the global statistics of the velocity field can be properly separated from the contribution of the true flow turbulence, giving additional insight to the physics of the precession phenomenon. The results obtained in the explored range of conditions indicate that the true turbulence intensity is not dependent on the swirl parameter. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Investigation of large-scale structures of annular swirling jet in a non-premixed burner using delayed detached eddy simulation

Delayed detached eddy simulation (DDES) is accompanied with Stereo-PIV measurements to study the non-reacting flow field of a non-premixed swirl burner in this paper. Comparisons of experimental and numerical data show that the DDES results are capable of predicting the mean swirling flow features adequately. The instantaneous flow field is found to be strongly affected by the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. The flow near the injector involves a complex behavior including a recirculation zone. The 3D flow structure at the burner exit, visualized by the iso-surface of Q-criterion, displays four instability types. The dominant instabilities are vortex ring structures induced by the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability, and finger structures induced by the swirling instability. Pressure fluctuation signal recorded in the swirling jet region show that the computational flow passes through transition instants from RANS to DDES equations. After that, the swirling jet becomes fully developed with an oscillation frequency of 222 Hz.     

An Eulerian–Lagrangian hybrid model for the coarse-grid simulation of turbulent liquid jet breakup

In this paper we present a numerical model for the coarse-grid simulation of turbulent liquid jet breakup using an Eulerian–Lagrangian coupling. To picture the unresolved droplet formation near the liquid jet interface in the case of coarse grids we considered a theoretical model to describe the unresolved flow instabilities leading to turbulent breakup. These entrained droplets are then represented by an Eulerian–Lagrangian hybrid concept. On the one hand, we used a volume of fluid method (VOF) to characterize the global spreading and the initiation of droplet formation; one the other hand, Lagrangian droplets are released at the liquid–gas interface according to the theoretical model balancing consolidating and disruptive energies. Here, a numerical coupling was required between Eulerian liquid core and Lagrangian droplets using mass and momentum source terms. The presented methodology was tested for different liquid jets in Rayleigh, wind-induced and atomization regimes and validated against literature data. This comparison reveals fairly good qualitative agreement in the cases of jet spreading, jet instability and jet breakup as well as relatively accurate size distribution and Sauter mean diameter (SMD) of the droplets. Furthermore, the model was able to capture the regime transitions from Rayleigh instability to atomization appropriately. Finally, the presented sub-grid model predicts the effect of the gas-phase pressure on the droplet sizes very well.     

波浪环境中垂直射流紊动特性的实验研究

利用粒子图像测速技术PIV(particle imagevelocimetry)对有限水深规则波浪环境下垂直射流紊动特性进行了实验研究. 应用相位分析法从测量数据中分离出速度脉动项,用4种不同波高的波浪研究波高对射流紊动特性的影响,对紊动量的分布以及大小进行了分析. 结果表明波高对射流的紊动特性有显著影响,并且对流项对波高的变化较紊动扩散项更为敏感,紊动扩散项量值约是对流项的$1/8\sim1/3$, 在时均化的N-S方程中起的作用不可忽略.      

Experimental study of an impinging jet with different swirl rates

A stereo PIV technique using advanced pre- and post-processing algorithms is implemented for the experimental study of the local structure of turbulent swirling impinging jets. The main emphasis of the present work is the analysis of the influence of swirl rate on the flow structure. During measurements, the Reynolds number was 8900, the nozzle-to-plate distance was equal to three nozzle diameters and the swirl rate was varied from 0 to 1.0. For the studied flows, spatial distributions of the mean velocity and statistical moments (including triple moments) of turbulent pulsations were measured.

The influence of the PIV finite spatial resolution on the measured dissipation rate and velocity moments was analyzed and compared with theoretical predictions. For this purpose, a special series of 2D PIV measurements was carried out with vector spacing up to several Kolmogorov lengthscales.

All terms of the axial mean momentum and the turbulent kinetic energy budget equations were obtained for the cross-section located one nozzle diameter from the impinging plate. For the TKE budget, the dissipation term was directly calculated from the instantaneous velocity fields, thereby allowing the pressure diffusion term to be found as a residual one. It was found that the magnitude of pressure diffusion decreased with the growth of the swirl rate. In general, the studied swirling impinging jets had a greater spread rate and a more rapid decay in absolute velocity when compared to the non-swirling jet.     

Numerical and experimental investigation on droplet dynamics and dispersion of a jet engine injector

In the case of turbine combustors operating with liquid fuel the combustion process is governed by the liquid fuel atomization and its dispersion in the combustion chamber. By highly unsteady flow field conditions the transient interaction between the liquid and the gaseous phase is of interest, because it results in a temporal variation of air–fuel ratio which leads to a fluctuating temperature distribution. The objective of this research was the investigation of transient flow field phenomena (e.g. large coherent structures) on droplet dynamics and dispersion of an isothermal flow (of inert water droplets) as a necessary first step towards a full analysis of spray combustion in real-life devices. The advanced injector system for lean jet engine combustors PERM (Partial Evaporated Rapid Mixing) was applied, generating a dilute polydispersed spray in a swirled flow field. Experiments were performed using Phase Doppler Anemometry (PDA) and a patternator to determine the droplet polydispersity, concentration maps, and velocity profiles in the flow. An important finding is the effect of large-scale coherent structures due mainly to the precessing of the vortex core (PVC) of the swirling air jet on the particle dispersion patterns. The experimental results then serve as reference data to assess the accuracy of the Eulerian–Lagrangian computations using a Large Eddy Simulation (LES), a Unsteady Reynolds-Average Navier–Stokes Simulation (URANS) and two simplified (steady-state) simulations. There, a simplified droplet injection model was used and the required boundary conditions of injected droplet sizes were obtained from measurements. Important transient effects of deterministic droplet separation observed during experiments, could be perfectly replicated with this injection model. It is convincingly shown, through extensive computations, that the resolution of instantaneous vortical structures is indeed crucial; hence the LES, or a reasonably-well resolved URANS are preferred over the steady-state solutions with additional, stochastic-type, turbulent dispersion models.     

Population,characteristics and kinematics of vortices in a confined rectangular jet with a co-flow

Vortex behavior and characteristics in a confined rectangular jet with a co-flow were examined using vortex swirling strength as a defining characteristic. On the left side of the jet, the positively (counterclockwise) rotating vortices are dominant, while negatively rotating vortices are dominant on the right side of the jet. The characteristics of vortices, such as population density, average size and strength, and deviation velocity, were calculated and analyzed in both the cross-stream direction and the streamwise direction. In the near-field of the jet, the population density, average size and strength of the dominant direction vortices show high values on both sides of the center stream with a small number of counter-rotating vortices produced in the small wake regions close to jet outlet. As the flow develops, the wake regions disappear, these count-rotating vortices also disappear, and the population of the dominant direction vortices increase and spread in the jet. The mean size and strength of the vortices decrease monotonically with streamwise coordinate. The signs of vortex deviation velocity indicate the vortices transfer low momentum to high-velocity region and high momentum to the low velocity region. The developing trends of these characteristics were also identified by tracing vortices using time-resolved particle image velocimetry data. Both the mean tracked vortex strength and size decrease with increasing downstream distance overall. At the locations of the left peak of turbulent kinetic energy, the two-point spatial cross-correlation of swirling strength with velocity fluctuation and concentration fluctuation were calculated. All the correlation fields contain one positively correlated region and one negatively correlated region although the orientations of the correlation fields varied, due to the flow transitioning from wake, to jet, to channel flow. Finally, linear stochastic estimation was used to calculate conditional structures. The large-scale structures in the velocity field revealed by linear stochastic estimation are spindle-shaped with a titling stream-wise major axis.     

Particle image velocimetry investigation of the flow-field of a 3D turbulent annular swirling decaying flow induced by means of a tangential inlet

Particle image velocimetry (PIV) has been used in order to measure the three mean components and turbulence intensities of the velocity vector in a swirling decaying flow induced by a tangential inlet in an annulus. This kind of flow motion is found to be very complex, exhibiting three-dimensional and non-axisymmetric characteristics coupled with a free decay of the swirling intensity along the flow path, thereby making it difficult to study. A method allowing the measurement of the three components of the velocity flow-field with a standard PIV system with two-dimensional acquisitions, is presented. The evolution of each velocity component between the inlet and the outlet of the annulus is obtained. Furthermore, the PIV technique is extended to the measurement of turbulent characteristics such as turbulent intensities and dimensionless turbulent energy. The main characteristics of the swirling flow are discussed and the swirl number is estimated as a function of the axial distance from the tangential inlet. Received: 6 July 1998/Accepted: 20 March 1999     

Investigation of flows induced by subsonic turbulent jets and their relation with the effect of static pressure reduction in a jet

The interaction between turbulent jets, both swirling and nonswirling, and the ambient medium is studied on the basis of the results of measurements and numerical simulation. It is shown that the turbulent flow and the swirl give rise to induced ejection flow toward the jet. The mechanism of the jet action on the ambient medium is connected with a decrease in the static pressure in the jet, which, in turn, is due to either the flow swirl or the fluctuating flow in the mixing layer, when the static pressure reduces owing to the presence of velocity fluctuations. The former rarefaction mechanism is predominant in swirling jets and the latter predominates in jets without swirling. It is shown that the ambient medium inflow into the jet due to the rarefaction is independent in nature of the mechanism of the lowered pressure generation and that it is the kinetic energy of the jet that is the energy source for the induced flow.     

Investigating swirl and tumble using two prototype inlet port designs by means of multi-planar PIV

Flow structures created during the intake stroke of an engine were investigated by means of multi-planar particle image velocimetry (PIV). A unique water-analogue engine model has been developed, where all essential parts and parameters, such as the cylinder head, valve timing, piston geometry and motion, etc. can easily be modified. Two cylinder heads with geometrically different inlet ports were investigated and experiments were performed with both moving and fixed valves. Three-dimensional visualisations of the flow field, mode decomposition through proper orthogonal decomposition, circulation as well as classical statistics were obtained and evaluated in order to gain an understanding of the flow structures, i.e. tumble and swirl, created by the two cylinder heads. It was clearly shown that one of the cylinder heads created a strong swirling motion in the cylinder. Three different fixed valve positions were investigated and the fully opened valve gave the strongest large-scale structures, whereas with smaller openings a larger amount of the kinetic energy was converted into small-scale turbulence. Results showed a more organised and stable flow field consisting of a well-defined swirl motion occupying the whole cylinder at the end of the intake stroke when the valves were fixed at the highest position. The moving valve case gave results similar to the fully open case but with slightly higher turbulence. Cycle-to-cycle variations were found to be less pronounced for these two cases as compared to the smaller fixed valve lifts. The second cylinder head showed a flow field that was more turbulent and much less coherent. Statistical analysis showed that this had a direct effect on cyclic variations in the flow where this head showed more profound variations.     

Characterization of particle-laden, confined swirling flows by phase-doppler anemometry and numerical calculation

The particle dispersion characteristics in a confined swirling flow with a swirl number of approx. 0.5 were studied in detail by performing measurements using phase-Doppler anemometry (PDA) and numerical predictions. A mixture of gas and particles was injected without swirl into the test section, while the swirling airstream was provided through a co-flowing annular inlet. Two cases with different primary jet exit velocities were considered. For these flow conditions, a closed central recirculation bubble was established just downstream of the inlet.

The PDA measurements allowed the correlation between particle size and velocity to be obtained and also the spatial change in the particle size distribution throughout the flow field. For these results, the behaviour of different size classes in the entire particle size spectrum, ranging from about 15 to 80 μm, could be studied, and the response of the particles to the mean flow and the gas turbulence could be characterized. Due to the response characteristics of particles with different diameters to the mean flow and the flow turbulence, a considerable separation of the particles was observed which resulted in a streamwise increase in the particle mean number diameter in the core region of the central recirculation bubble. For the lower particle inlet velocity (i.e. low primary jet exit velocity), this effect is more pronounced, since here the particles have more time to respond to the flow reversal and the swirl velocity component. This also gave a higher mass of recirculating particle material.

The numerical predictions of the gas flow were performed by solving the time-averaged Navier-Stokes equations in connection with the well known kε turbulence model. Although this turbulence model is based on the assumption of isotropic turbulence, the agreement of the calculated mean velocity profiles compared to the measured gas velocities is very good. The gas-phase turbulent kinetic energy, however, is considerably underpredicted in the initial mixing region. The particle dispersion characteristics were calculated by using the Lagrangian approach, where the influence of the particulate phase on the gas flow could be neglected, since only very low mass loadings were considered. The calculated results for the particle mean velocity and the mass flux are also in good agreement with the experiments. Furthermore, the change in the particle mean diameter throughout the flow field was predicted approximately, which shows that the applied simple stochastic dispersion model also gives good results for such very complex flows. The variation of the gas and particle velocity in the primary inlet had a considerable impact on the particle dispersion behaviour in the swirling flow and the particle residence time in the central recirculation bubble, which could be determined from the numerical calculations. For the lower particle inlet velocity, the maximum particle size-dependence residence time within the recirculation region was considerably shifted towards larger particles.     

Development and structure of a gravity current head

A new approach for 2-dimensional flow field investigation by PIV has been developed for measurements with high spatial resolution without the well known directional ambiguity. This feature of the technique is especially important for measurements in flows with reversal regions or strong turbulent motion as in-cylinder engine measurements. The major aim of the work was to achieve the benefits of cross correlation PIV image evaluation at reasonable cost and under application of common single wavelength double pulsed laser systems as they are mainly used for PIV experiments. The development of the technique is based on polarization rotation of the light scattered by the seeding particles by means of a ferroelectric liquid crystal half wave plate (FLC).Measurement samples from low turbulent jets and the flow in the wake of a cylinder are being presented.     

等离子体激励器诱导射流的湍流特性研究

为了进一步掌握等离子体流动控制机理, 完善等离子体激励器数学模型, 提升等离子体激励器扰动能力, 采用粒子图像测速技术, 在静止空气下开展了介质阻挡放电等离子体激励器诱导射流特性研究. 实验时, 将非对称布局激励器布置在平板模型上, 随后将带有激励器的模型放置在有机玻璃箱内, 从而避免环境气流对测试结果的影响. 基于激励器诱导流场, 分析了激励电压对诱导射流特性的影响, 揭示了较高电压下诱导射流近壁区的拟序结构, 获得了卷起涡、二次涡等拟序结构的演化发展过程, 计算了卷起涡脱落频率, 阐述了卷起涡与启动涡的区别, 初步探索了卷起涡的耗散机制. 结果表明: (1)层流射流不能完全概括等离子体诱导射流特性, 激励电压是影响射流特性的重要参数. 当电压较低时, 诱导射流为层流射流; 当电压较高时, 诱导射流的雷诺数提高, 射流剪切层不稳定, 层流射流逐渐发展为湍流射流. (2)等离子体诱导湍流射流包含着卷起涡、二次涡等拟序结构; 在固定电压下, 这些涡结构存在恒定的卷起频率. (3)当激励电压较高时, 流动不稳定使得卷起涡发生了拉伸、变形, 引起了流场湍动能增大, 从而加速了卷起涡的耗散. 研究结果为全面认识激励器射流特性, 进一步挖掘激励器卷吸掺混能力, 提升激励器控制能力积累基础.      

Jet characteristics in confined swirling flow

Jets in confined swirling flow are investigated in a facility where the swirling flow in the tube is produced by a vane-type swirler. The jet is located centrally in the swirler, and the diameter ratio of the tube to the jet is 14. Both the jet and the swirling flow are fully turbulent. Results show that the confined jet is highly dissipative in nature. Consequently, the flow in the tube does not resemble a free jet with axial pressure gradient. The presence of swirl increases the rate of dissipation and the jet decays even faster. A fairly isotropic turbulence field is observed in the confined swirling flow. However, the introduction of the jet does not significantly affect this behavior and near isotropy of the turbulence field is again observed at 30 jet diameters downstream.     

Acoustic Lagrangian velocity measurement in a turbulent air jet

Measuring Lagrangian velocities in a turbulent flow is of a great interest for turbulence modeling. We report measurements made in an axisymmetric turbulent air jet at Reynolds number R _λ ≃ 320, using acoustical Doppler scattering. Helium-filled soap bubbles are used as Lagrangian tracers. We describe an experimental setup which allows the simultaneous measurement of the full three-component Lagrangian velocity and the longitudinal Eulerian one. Lagrangian velocity probability density functions (PDF) are found Gaussian, close to Eulerian ones. Velocity correlations are analysed as well as the statistical dependence between components.     

Experimental and numerical analysis of the jet dispersion from a bent chimney around an obstacle

An experimental study and a numerical modelling analysis were carried out simultaneously to study the flow field structure issuing from a chimney around an obstacle. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the jet emitted from a chimney (bent or straight) on the dynamics and the turbulent features of the surrounding flow. The consideration of these features is particularly pertinent to the understanding of mixing between the interacting flows which may be very important in controlling pollutant dispersion in the atmosphere. The experimental data are depicted by means of a PIV technique; whereas the numerical three-dimensional model is simulated through the resolution of the different governing Navier–Stokes equations. The volume finite method, together with the second order turbulent closure model (RSM), was adopted. Variations in obstacle form (cylindrical or parallelepiped) and chimney configuration (bent or straight) were tested and features studied were: the global jet plume, the windward and leeward jet spread; the size, location and magnitude of the reverse flow region; the penetration and the deflection of the jet trajectory around the obstacle. All these considerations allowed us to characterize well the impact of the injection of the jet emitted from the chimney within the crossflow, and its spreading around the obstacle and within the whole domain. Such characterization is very important with regard to pollutant dispersion and consequently to the environmental impact. Indeed, the different species contained within the emitted fumes are mainly directed by the velocity components and their mixing and progression within the domain and around the obstacle are closely related.