Turbulent plane wall jets over smooth and rough surfaces

Large-eddy simulations were carried out to study the effects of surface roughness on a plane wall-jet using the Lagrangian dynamic eddy-viscosity subgrid-scale model, at Re = 7500 (based on the jet bulk velocity and height). Results over both smooth and rough surfaces were validated by experimental data at the same Reynolds number. As the jet is injected into the still environment, large-scale rollers are generated in the shear layer between the high-momentum fluid of the jet and the surrounding and are convected downstream with the flow. To understand the extent to which the outer-layer structures modify the flow in the inner layer and the extent to which the effect of roughness spreads away from the wall, both instantaneous and mean flow fields were investigated. The results revealed that, for the Reynolds number and roughness height considered in this study, the effect of roughness is mostly confined to the near-wall region of the wall jet. There is no structural difference between the outer layer of the wall jet over the smooth and rough surfaces. Roughness does not affect the size of the outer-layer structures or the scaling of the profiles of Reynolds stresses in the outer layer. However, in the inner layer, roughness redistributes stresses from streamwise to wall-normal and spanwise directions toward isotropy. Contours of joint probability-density function of the streamwise and wall-normal velocity fluctuations at the bottom of the logarithmic region match those of the turbulent boundary layer at the same height; while the traces of the outer-layer structure were detected at the top of the logarithmic region, indicating that they do not affect the flow very close to the wall, but still modify a major portion of the inner layer. This modification must be taken into consideration when the inner layer of a wall jet is compared with the conventional turbulent boundary layer.     

Prediction of excess thermodynamic functions and activity coefficients of some polymeric liquid mixtures using a new equation of state

In this work, the excess thermodynamic properties, namely excess molar Gibbs energy, excess molar enthalpy, excess molar entropy, excess molar internal energy, and excess molar Helmholtz energy for four polymer mixtures and blends at different temperatures, pressures, and compositions have been calculated using the GMA equation of state. We have also calculated the activity coefficient for these polymeric mixtures using the GMA equation of state. The values of statistical parameters between experimental and calculated properties show the ability of this equation of state in reproducing and predicting the excess thermodynamic functions and activity coefficients for studied polymeric mixtures.     

Interaction of inner and outer layers in plane and radial wall jets

Large eddy simulations of turbulent radial and plane wall jets were performed at different Reynolds numbers using the Lagrangian dynamic eddy viscosity subgrid-scale model. The results were validated with experimental data available in the literature. Compared to the plane ones, the radial wall jets have an extra direction for expansion, which causes faster decay rates. Thus, the resulting pressure gradient distributions are different. However, the comparison of the results with the turbulent boundary layers under adverse and favourable pressure gradients reveals that these pressure gradients are not strong enough to cause any fundamental physical difference between plane and radial wall jets. In both cases, the local Reynolds number is an important determining factor in characterisation of the flow. The joint probability density function analysis shows that the local Reynolds number determines the level of intrusion of the outer layer into the inner layer: the lower the local Reynolds number, the stronger is the interaction of the inner and outer layers. These results can be used to clarify the scatter of the reported log-law constants in the literature.     

Large-eddy simulation of impinging jets on smooth and rough surfaces

We performed large-eddy simulations (LES) of forced impinging jets over smooth and rough surfaces, containing large-scale, azimuthal vortices generated by the enhanced primary instability in the jet shear layer. The interaction between these vortices and the turbulence in the wall jet that is formed downstream of the impingement region determines their rate of decay. To explore the surface-roughness effects on the evolution of the vortices, sand-grain-like surfaces are generated using uniformly distributed but randomly oriented ellipsoids. The flow is compared to our previous LES of jets impinging on a smooth surface. In spite of the severe modification caused by the roughness on the near-wall flow, the vortex development is not significantly altered. Slightly faster decay of the primary vortices is observed in the rough-wall case compared to the smooth-wall one; the secondary vortex that detaches from the wall and is lifted up has larger vorticity. The highly disturbed near-wall flow is advected outward and affects the evolution of the primary vortex for a longer period during the vortex interaction. The robust turbulent generation mechanism in the outer shear layer, however, mitigates the changes in vortex behaviour. The momentum deficit and the enhancement of turbulence due to the surface roughness play a key role during this process.