Visualization and structure of confined, milliscale, unsteady impinging slot jets and associated vortices

Flow characteristics of confined, laminar milliscale slot jets are investigated from visualizations, as they impinge upon a flat target plate, with a fully developed velocity profile at the nozzle exit. The effects of Reynolds number Re and normalized nozzle-to-plate distance H/B are considered for a nozzle width B of 1.0 mm. Transition from a stable symmetric jet to an unsteady oscillating jet is observed as the Reynolds number increases (with H/B constant), where the Reynolds number associated with this transition decreases as the normalized nozzle-to-plate distance H/B increases. Instantaneous visualizations show unsteady lateral distortions of jet columns at experimental conditions corresponding to the presence of continuous sinusoidal oscillations, intermittent oscillating motion of the jet column, and jet flow fluctuation/flapping motion. Also apparent in flow visualization sequences are smoke signatures associated with instantaneous vortex structures, which form as secondary flows develop in fluid which, initially, is just adjacent to and within the jet column. Associated jet and vortex structural changes are described as different modes of unsteadiness are present, including characterization of jet column unsteadiness using jet column oscillation frequency, and lateral and streamwise extents of jet distortion.     

Unsteady Liquid Jets

The behaviour of unsteady liquid jets in a gas atmosphere is mainly governed by the conservation of momentum and the interaction with the environment. In this article it will be shown that many of the particular effects in the propagation and desintegration of unsteady jets are simply explained by the conservation of initial momentum. Many of the distortions and peculiar shapes of the liquid elements of the jet can be explained by a time and space development of weak initial distortions of momentum in travelling waves during propagation.The first part of the paper is devoted to the droplet formation in liquid jets of moderate Weber numbers in the order of ten. In this regime and higher the surface tension is not the governing influence of instability of jet decomposition and hence of the droplet formation.If there is a high frequency distortion of the velocity which is artificially implemented in our experiments by a special device, but under usual conditions also existing by turbulence or source distortions of the nozzle flow, the concentration of mass in packets in a kind of shock formation is the main reason for droplet formation. The frequency of droplets in space and time is given by the frequency of the distortion. The amplitude and phase is also given by the initial values of the driver for these quantities.For large amplitudes and low frequencies the jets are decomposed in very peculiar shapes, which can be very simply explained by the collision of packets of concentrated mass on the axis of the jet motion.The whole range of phenomena can be understood in a theoretically elegant manner by a Lagrangian transform of the nonlinear equations of motion together with some plausible considerations about the lateral motion. Solutions for the droplet formation and the formation of liquid films in different shapes can be achieved this way.As an illustration of the whole range of beautiful and regularly reproducible details of jet decomposition some photographs will be shown which summarize the phenomena and give an idea of the importance of systematic investigation of the sometimes very confusing appearance of fluid jets.     

Unsteady Liquid Jets

The behaviour of unsteady liquid jets in a gas atmosphere is mainly governed by the conservation of momentum and the interaction with the environment. In this article it will be shown that many of the particular effects in the propagation and desintegration of unsteady jets are simply explained by the conservation of initial momentum. Many of the distortions and peculiar shapes of the liquid elements of the jet can be explained by a time and space development of weak initial distortions of momentum in travelling waves during propagation. The first part of the paper is devoted to the droplet formation in liquid jets of moderate Weber numbers in the order of ten. In this regime and higher the surface tension is not the governing influence of instability of jet decomposition and hence of the droplet formation. If there is a high frequency distortion of the velocity which is artificially implemented in our experiments by a special device, but under usual conditions also existing by turbulence or source distortions of the nozzle flow, the concentration of mass in packets in a kind of shock formation is the main reason for droplet formation. The frequency of droplets in space and time is given by the frequency of the distortion. The amplitude and phase is also given by the initial values of the driver for these quantities. For large amplitudes and low frequencies the jets are decomposed in very peculiar shapes, which can be very simply explained by the collision of packets of concentrated mass on the axis of the jet motion. The whole range of phenomena can be understood in a theoretically elegant manner by a Lagrangian transform of the nonlinear equations of motion together with some plausible considerations about the lateral motion. Solutions for the droplet formation and the formation of liquid films in different shapes can be achieved this way. As an illustration of the whole range of beautiful and regularly reproducible details of jet decomposition some photographs will be shown which summarize the phenomena and give an idea of the importance of systematic investigation of the sometimes very confusing appearance of fluid jets.     

Mathematical simulation of unsteady flow past a wing with jets

The various approximate approaches to the investigation of the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of an airfoil with jet flap [1–3] are applicable only for an airfoil, low jet intensity, and low oscillation frequencies. In the present paper, the method of discrete vortices [4] is generalized to the case of unsteady flow past a wing with jets and arbitrary shape in plan. The problem is solved in the linear formulation; the conditions used are standard: no flow through the wing and jet, finite velocities at the trailing edges where there is no jet, and also a dynamical condition on the jet. The wing and jet are assumed to be thin and the medium inviscid and incompressible.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 139–144, May–June, 1982.     

Numerical study of unsteady flow and heat transfer of circular tangential direction jets flowing over the inner cylinder surface in the annular chamber

In order to understand the dynamics of vortices on heat transfer, the unsteady flow field of tangential direction jets flowing in the annular chamber is numerically investigated by scale-adaptive simulation (SAS). The jet Reynolds number is 332,000 based on the jet’s diameter and inflow velocity for a specific geometric model. The analogy theory is used to obtain the convective heat transfer coefficient distribution on the hub surface. Spectral analysis via fast Fourier transform (FFT) is used to analyze frequency information that flows inside the chamber. The proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method is performed on the velocity field in the chamber and the convective heat transfer coefficient on the hub surface using a snapshot method. The fast Fourier transform helps find the dominant frequency of the unsteady flow in the chamber. The time sequence of velocity fields on the radial plane shows the presence of cyclic flapping of the jet. The proper orthogonal decomposition analysis indicates that the unsteady periodic flow phenomenon in the chamber and unsteady heat transfer on the hub surface are mainly related to the dynamics of the counter-rotating vortices caused by the jet.     

An investigation into the interaction of closely-spaced starting jets

The transient, three-dimensional scavenging flow inside a novel two-stroke engine has been investigated both experimentally in a scaled water model as well as numerically using a commercial CFD code incorporating an unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) formulation. The scavenging flow consists of 16 round jets in close proximity of each other and the cylinder wall, developing from the top of the combustion chamber down towards the exhaust ports located along the wall at the bottom of the cylinder. Flow visualization of the scavenging flow was performed using a scaled fixed-piston water model and was used as a means of validating the URANS simulations themselves. The flow visualization experiments provided insight into the complex jet–jet and jet–wall interactions within the engine cylinder. These interactions were not as well predicted by the CFD simulations. In fact, the CFD simulations were found to significantly under-predict the turbulent mixing between the jets. This suggests that unsteady-RANS formulations are incapable of reproducing the large-scale and unsteady mixing structures associated with the vortex shedding between the closely-spaced jets.     

Visual observations of supersonic transverse jets

We present experimental results on penetration of round sonic and supersonic jets normal to a supersonic cross flow. It is found that penetration is strongly dependent on momentum ratio, weakly dependent on free-stream Mach number, and practically independent of jet Mach number, pressure ratio, and density ratio. The overall scaling of penetration is not very different from that established for subsonic jets. The flow is very unsteady, with propagating pressure waves seen emanating from the orifice of helium jets.     

Numerical study on the performance of nozzle flow for supersonic chemical oxygen–iodine lasers

Laser performance is greatly dependent on its operating conditions due to the strong coupling among multi- physics such as gas-dynamics, chemical reaction kinetics and optics in the mixing nozzle of COIL. In this paper, 3D CFD technology is used to simulate the mixing and reactive flow of subsonic cross jet scheme at different conditions. Results obtained show that the jet penetration depth plays a dominant role in the spatial distribution of small signal gains. In the case of over-penetration, unsteady flow structures are induced by impinging between the opposing jets. The optimum spatial distribution of the chemical performance cannot be obtained even if the full penetration condition is achieved through the subsonic transverse jet mixing scheme in the COIL nozzle flow.     

An experimental study of a radial wall jet formed by the normal impingement of a round synthetic jet

The flow field of a radial wall jet created by the impingement of a round synthetic jet normal to a flat surface was characterized using hot-wire anemometry. In the synthetic wall jets the width of the outer layer was observed to increase linearly with the radial distance along the wall, while the local maximum velocity varied inversely. The synthetic wall jet exhibits self-similar behavior as distinguished by the collapse of the mean and rms velocity profiles when normalized by the outer layer scaling variables. Increasing the actuator driving amplitude at a fixed frequency (i) increased the growth rate of the outer layer, and (ii) decreased the decay rate of the local velocity maximum. The flow field of the synthetic wall jet was dominated by vortical structures associated with the actuator driving frequency, and harmonics connected with the interaction of the produced vortex structures. For the actuator conditions investigated, neither the classical laminar nor fully turbulent analytical solutions for continuous wall jets were amenable to modeling the synthetic wall jet profile due to the transitional and unsteady nature of the synthetic wall jet.     

Optimization of jet parameters to control the flow on a ramp

This study deals with the use of optimization algorithms to determine efficient parameters of flow control devices. To improve the performance of systems characterized by detached flows and vortex shedding, the use of flow control devices such as oscillatory jets are intensively studied. However, the determination of efficient control parameters is still a bottleneck for industrial problems. Therefore, we propose to couple a global optimization algorithm with an unsteady flow simulation to derive efficient flow control rules. We consider as a test case a backward-facing step with a slope of 25°, including a synthetic jet actuator. The aim is to reduce the time-averaged recirculation length behind the step by optimizing the jet blowing/suction amplitude and frequency.     

定常吹气对倾转旋翼机向下载荷的影响

为进一步提高倾转旋翼机悬停状态下的有效载重,开展了定常吹气流动控制对向下载荷的影响研究。首先应用延迟脱体涡模拟(DDES)方法对翼型-90°迎角下非定常大范围分离流动结构进行了数值分析;然后分别开展了前缘吹气、后缘吹气降载措施研究,揭示了吹气降载的机理,并对不同吹气口位置和吹气动量系数的影响进行了定量分析,最后开展了前、后缘同时吹气作用下降载数值模拟研究。计算结果表明:前缘最佳吹气位置在翼型的前缘点,而后缘吹气最佳位置位于襟翼弦长的15%处;前缘吹气的降载效果要优于后缘吹气,而且吹气动量系数对向下载荷的影响较小;相对于初始未施加流动控制构型,阻力系数减小量可达到32.72%。     

Investigation of Submerged Jets with an Extended Initial Laminar Region

The method of producing laminar submerged jets using a device, whose length is comparable with the jet diameter, is described. A submerged air jet, 0.12 m in diameter, produced by means of this technique is experimentally investigated in the Reynolds number range from 2000 to 13 000. Hot-wire anemometer measurements of the flow parameters and laser visualization of the flow are performed. It is shown that the device developed makes it possible to produce submerged jets with the laminar regions as long as 5.5 jet diameters. The initial regions of such jets can be used to study the development of disturbances in submerged jets, as well as used in medicine and engineering in organizing various gasdynamic curtains which produce zones with given properties with respect to purity and composition inside another gas media.     

Direct numerical simulation of free and forced square jets

Direct numerical simulation (DNS) of incompressible, spatially developing square jets in the Reynolds number range of 500–2000 is reported. The three-dimensional unsteady Navier–Stokes equations are solved using high order spatial and temporal discretization. The objective of the present work is to understand the evolution of free and forced square jets by examining the formation of large-scale structures. Coherent structures and related interactions of free jets suggest control strategies that can be used to achieve enhanced spreading and mixing of the jet with the surrounding fluid. The critical Reynolds number for the onset on unsteadiness in an unperturbed free square jet is found to be 875–900 while it reduces to the range 500–525 in the presence of small-scale perturbations. Disturbances applied at the flow inlet cause saturation of KH-instability and early transition to turbulence. Forced jet calculations have been carried out using varicose perturbation with amplitude of 15%, while frequency is independently varied. Simulations show that the initial development of the square jet is influenced by the four corners leading to the appearance hairpin structures along with the formation of vortex rings. Farther downstream, adjacent vortices strongly interact leading to their rapid breakup. Excitation frequencies in the range 0.4–0.6 cause axis-switching of the jet cross-section. Results show that square jets achieve greater spreading but are less controllable in comparison to the circular ones.     

Fluid dynamics of slender,thin, annular liquid jets

Perturbation methods are used to obtain the one-dimensional, asymptotic equations that govern the fluid dynamics of slender, thin, inviscid, incompressible, axisymmetric, irrotational, annular liquid jets from the Euler equations. It is shown that, depending on the magnitude of the Weber number, two flow regimes are possible: an inertia-dominated one corresponding to large Weber numbers, and a capillary regime for Weber numbers of the order of unity. The steady equations governing these two regimes have analytical solutions for the liquid's axial velocity component and require a numerical integration to determine the jet's mean radius for inertia-dominated jets. The one-dimensional equations derived in this paper are shown to be particular cases of a hydraulic model for annular liquid jets, and this model is used to determine the effects of gravity modulation on the unsteady fluid dynamics of annular liquid jets in the absence of mass injection into the volume enclosed by the jet and mass absorption. It is shown that both the convergence length and the pressure coefficient are periodic functions of time which have the same period as that of the gravity modulation, but undergo large variations as the amplitude, frequency and width of gravitational pulses is varied.     

Effects of acoustic excitation at resonance Strouhal numbers on characteristics of an elevated transverse jet

The effects of acoustic excitation on the flow behavior, penetration, and spread of the stack-issued and wall-issued transverse jets were studied experimentally. The jet flow was periodically excited by a loudspeaker that was driven with a square wave at resonance Strouhal numbers. The pulsed transverse jet was characterized by jet Reynolds number 2000. Streak pictures of the smoke flow patterns illuminated by the laser-light sheet in the median plane were recorded with a high-speed digital camera to illustrate the evolution process of the characteristic flow behavior within one excitation cycle. The binary edge-detection technique was used to determine penetration height and spread width. The tracer-gas concentration measurement provided jet dispersion information. The evolution processes of both the stack-issued and wall-issued transverse jets were characterized by a leading vortex ring and swing motion of the jet column near the jet exit as the jets were forced at resonance Strouhal numbers. A leading vortex ring appeared near the jet exit during the leading phase of excitation cycle and evolved subsequently to puffs of jet fluids in the upwind shear layer of the deflected jet. The swinging motion of the near-tube tip jet column induced up/down oscillation of the deflected jet. The excited stack-issued transverse jet exhibited significantly larger penetration height and spread width than the excited wall-issued transverse jet. The tracer-gas detection experiment results showed that the excited transverse jet disperses significantly faster and wider than the non-excited transverse jet. Pulsating the transverse jet at low resonance Strouhal numbers produced higher mixing and dispersion effects than pulsating the transverse jet at high resonance Strouhal numbers.     

Direct Numerical Simulation of Transitional Noncircular Buoyant Reactive Jets

The near field dynamics of transitional buoyant reactive jets established on noncircular geometries, including a rectangular nozzle with an aspect ratio of 2:1 and a square nozzle with the same cross-sectional area, are investigated by three-dimensional spatial direct numerical simulations. Without applying external perturbations at the inflow boundary, large vortical structures develop naturally in the flow field due to buoyancy effects. Simulation results and analysis describe the details and clarify mechanisms of vortex dynamics of the noncircular buoyant reactive jets. The interaction between density gradients and gravity initiates the flow vorticity. Among the major vorticity transport terms, the gravitational term mainly promotes flow vorticity in the cross-streamwise direction. For the baroclinic torque, it can either create or destroy flow vorticity depending on the local flow structure. The vortex stretching term has different effects on the streamwise and cross-streamwise vorticity. Streamwise vorticity is mainly created by vortex stretching, while this term can either create or destroy cross-streamwise vorticity. Under the coupling effects of buoyancy and noncircular nozzle geometry, three-dimensional vortex interactions lead to the transitional behavior of the reactive jets. Simulations also show that the rectangular jet is more vortical than the square jet. The rectangular jet has a stronger tendency of transition to turbulence at the downstream due to the aspect ratio effect. Mean flow property calculations show that the rectangular buoyant reactive jet has a higher entrainment rate than its square counterpart. Received 13 December 2000 and accepted 24 July 2001     

Effects of dual jets distance on mixing characteristics and flow path within a cavity in supersonic crossflow

A rectangular open cavity with upstream dual injectors at a freestream Mach number of 1.9 was investigated experimentally. To evaluate the effect of the distance between the jets, the flow characteristics were investigated using the high-speed schlieren photography, particle image velocimetry, and surface oil flow techniques. The dual jet distances of 18 and 54 mm were used. Unstable flow occurs over the cavity in all cases and is not improved by changing the distance between the dual jets. Although the distance between the dual jets does not influence the flow stability, the flow field varies decidedly depending on the dual jets distance. The enhancement of air mixing depends on the distance between the jets. A long dual jets distance was found to yield better mixing characteristics within the cavity than a short one. When the jets are further apart, the mainstream between two counter-rotating vortex pairs behind the jets flows strongly into the cavity because of the increased blow-down occurring between the vortex pairs. Additionally, a counterflow with a low velocity magnitude occurs behind the jets. Hence, mixing is enhanced within the cavity by effects of the opposed flow. When the jet pairs are closer to each other, the counter-rotating vortex pairs are in contact; as a result, the blow-down effect does not occur between them. The flow drawn into the cavity from the mainstream is supplied from the sides of the test section into the cavity.     

Flow and breakup characteristics of elliptical liquid jets

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on liquid jets discharging from elliptical orifices into still ambient air. The experiments were conducted with a set of elliptical orifices of approximately same area of cross section but varying orifice aspect ratio using water and water–glycerol mixture as experimental fluids. The flow behavior of liquid jets was analyzed using their photographs captured by an imaging system. The measurements obtained for the elliptical liquid jets were compared with the circular liquid jets discharging from a circular orifice of the same area of cross section. Elliptical geometry of the orifice results in a flow process by which the emanating liquid jet periodically switches its major and minor axes as it flows downstream of the orifice. In this paper, we attempt to characterize the axis-switching process through its wavelength and amplitude. For a given elliptical orifice, the axis-switching process is dominantly seen in a particular range of flow conditions. The effects of the orifice aspect ratio and liquid viscosity on the axis-switching process are revealed through this study. The experimental results on jet breakup show that axis-switching process has a destabilizing effect on elliptical liquid jets within a particular range of flow conditions and it results in shorter breakup lengths compared to the circular jet. The extent to which axis-switching destabilizes the jet is dictated by the viscosity of liquid. An increase in orifice aspect ratio destabilizes elliptical liquid jets with low viscosity like water; however, this behavior seems to get obscured in water–glycerol mixture elliptical jets due to high viscosity.     

Duty cycle and directional jet effects of a plasma actuator on the flow control around a NACA0015 airfoil

This paper reports on the effects of a series of fluid-dynamic dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators on a NACA0015 airfoil at high angle of attack. A set of jet actuators able to produce plasma jets with different directions (vectoring effect) and operated at different on/off duty cycle frequencies are used. The experiments are performed in a wind tunnel facility. The vectorized jet and the transient of the flow induced by unsteady duty cycle operation of each actuator are examined and the effectiveness of the actuator to recover stall condition in the range of Reynolds numbers between 1.0 × 10⁵ and 5.0 × 10⁵ (based on airfoil chord), is investigated. The actuator placed on the leading edge of the airfoil presents the most effective stall recovery. No significant effects can be observed for different orientations of the jet. An increase of the stall recovery is detected when the actuator is operated in unsteady operation mode. Moreover, the frequency of the on/off duty cycle that maximizes the stall recovery is found to be a function of the free stream velocity. This frequency seems to scale with the boundary layer thickness at the position of the actuator. A lift coefficient increase at low free stream velocities appears to linearly depend on the supply voltage.     

Opposed round jets issuing into a small aspect ratio channel cross flow

Round jets (diameter D) discharging into a confined cross flow (dimension 3.16D × 21.05D) are investigated experimentally. Two configurations are considered: (1) a single jet (momentum flux ratio, J = 155) and (2) two opposed jets with two different momentum flux ratios (J = 60, and 155). A two-component laser-Doppler anemometer is used to make a detailed map of the normal stresses and mean velocities in the symmetry plane of the jets. In addition, smoke-wire and laser-sheet visualization are used to study the flow.

The rate of bending of the single confined jet is found to be higher than the rate of bending of an unconfined jet with the same momentum flux ratio. In the far field, the jet centerline velocity is observed to decay more slowly than the unconfined jet, indicating poor turbulent diffusion of linear momentum. Annular shear layer vortices are visualized on the upstream edge of the jet in the near field. In the far field, the flow visualization suggests that the jet loses its integrity and fragments into independent regions that are convected by the cross flow.

In the opposed jet configuration at the high momentum flux ratio (J = 155), the jets impinge in the center of the duct, and a pair of vortices is observed upstream of the impingement region. The flow visualization implies that the impingement vortices form quasi periodically and have a finite life span. In the impingement region, the jets are observed to penetrate alternately beyond the symmetry plane of the duct. In the two-jet configuration with J = 60, the jets do not impinge on each other owing to the higher rate of bending. Instead, the flow visualization indicates that the shear layers of the jets penetrate to the central region and periodically pinch off regions of the potential-like cross-flow fluid where they meet. The pinch-off regions of cross-flow fluid are convected by the turbulent flow for large distances, yet remain essentially unmixed.