Transient behavior of an axisymmetric turbulent jet

The prediction of the response of unsteady flows submitted to external excitation is a real challenge for the optimization of industrial processes. As the jet flow is a very basic turbulent flow related to mixing and entrainment phenomena via turbulent structure dynamic, we investigate the transient behavior of an axisymmetric jet submitted to a large and sudden decrease of its ejection velocity. The non stationary flow evolution is studied experimentally. Measurements along the jet axis based on pure ensemble averaging show clearly the convective motion of the perturbation and the adaptation of the local interaction to the local jet time scale. A transverse investigation in the non stationary region show that the mean flow and its turbulence is deeply affected during the local velocity decrease.