An Experimental Study of the Near-Field Mixing Characteristics of a Swirling Jet

The present experimental investigation is devoted to the mixing characteristics of a passive scalar in the near-field region of a moderately swirling jet issuing from a fully developed axially rotating pipe flow. Instantaneous streamwise and azimuthal velocity components as well as the temperature were simultaneously accessed by means of a combined X-wire and cold-wire probe. The results indicate a modification of the turbulence structures to that effect that the swirling jet spreads, mixes and evolves faster compared to its non-swirling counterpart. The high correlation between streamwise velocity and temperature fluctuations as well as the streamwise passive scalar flux are even more enhanced due to the addition of swirl, which in turn shortens the distance and hence time needed to mix the jet with the ambient air.