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

B. Kong, M. G. Olsen, R. O. Fox, J. C. Hill

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1473-1493
Number of pages21
JournalExperiments in Fluids
Volume50
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2011
Externally publishedYes

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