Active Control of Swirling Coaxial Jet Mixing with Manipulation of Large-Scale Vortical Structures

Large-scale vortical structures and associated mixing in methane/air swirling coaxial jets are actively controlled by manipulating the outer shear layer of the outer swirling coaxial jet with miniature flap actuators. In order to investigate the control mechanisms, stereoscopic particle image verocimetry (stereo-PIV) and plannar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) techniques are employed. It is found that intense vortex rings are produced in the outer shear layer in phase with the periodic flap motion regardless of the swirl number examined. The vortical structures in the inner shear layer, however, are strongly dependent on the swirl rate. This is because the central methane jet is accelerated by the negative axial pressure gradient, of which strength is determined by the swirl. As a result, the inner vortex formation is significantly suppressed at a higher swirl rate. On the other hand, at a relatively low swirl rate, the inner vortices are shed continuously and the methane jet is pinched off. This particular mode promotes the mixing of methane and air, so that the flammable mixture can be formed at an earlier stage of the jet flow development. In addition, the evolution of secondary streamwise vortices is prompted by the combination of the periodic vortex ring shedding and the swirl. They also contribute to the mixing enhancement in the downstream region.     

Dynamics of swirling jet flows

Experimental investigations of near-field structure of coaxial flows are presented for four different configurations: coaxial jets without rotation (reference case), outer flow rotating only (OFRO), inner-jet rotating only (IJRO) and corotating jets (CRJ). The investigations are performed in a cylindrical water tunnel, with an independent rotation of two coaxial flows. Laser tomography is used to document the flow field, and photographs are shown for different configurations. Time mean velocity profiles obtained by PIV, with and without swirl, are also presented. The dynamics of the swirling jets in the initial region (i.e. near the exit of the jets) is described. The effects of azimuthal velocity and axial velocity ratio variations on flow dynamics are examined. The appearance and growth of the first instabilities are presented and compared with some theoretical results, as is the influence of the rotation (inner or outer) on the dominating structures.     

Investigation of flows induced by subsonic turbulent jets and their relation with the effect of static pressure reduction in a jet

The interaction between turbulent jets, both swirling and nonswirling, and the ambient medium is studied on the basis of the results of measurements and numerical simulation. It is shown that the turbulent flow and the swirl give rise to induced ejection flow toward the jet. The mechanism of the jet action on the ambient medium is connected with a decrease in the static pressure in the jet, which, in turn, is due to either the flow swirl or the fluctuating flow in the mixing layer, when the static pressure reduces owing to the presence of velocity fluctuations. The former rarefaction mechanism is predominant in swirling jets and the latter predominates in jets without swirling. It is shown that the ambient medium inflow into the jet due to the rarefaction is independent in nature of the mechanism of the lowered pressure generation and that it is the kinetic energy of the jet that is the energy source for the induced flow.     

An experimental study of the under-expanded swirling jet with secondary coaxial stream

The present study addresses experimental results for investigating the details of the near field flow characteristics produced in an under-expanded, dual, coaxial, swirling jet. The under-expanded swirling jet is discharged from a sonic inner nozzle. An outer annular nozzle produces co- and counter-swirling streams relative to the inner primary swirling jet. The interaction between both the outer annular swirling stream and inner under-expanded swirling jet is quantified by impact and static pressure measurements, and visualized by using the shadowgraph method. Experiments are performed for several different pressure ratios. The results show that the outer secondary co-swirling jet significantly changes the structure of the inner under-expanded swirling jet, such as the shock structures and the recirculation region generated at the jet axis. The effect of the outer secondary stream on the major structures of the inner primary swirling jet is strongly dependent on the pressure ratio of the inner swirling jet, regardless of the swirl direction of the outer stream.Received: 17 May 2004, Accepted: 27 September 2004, Published online: 26 November 2004[/PUBLISHED]H.D. Kim: Correspondence to     

Mass and momentum transport in the near field of swirling turbulent jets. Effect of swirl rate

Local transport of the flow momentum and scalar admixture in the near-field of turbulent swirling jets (Re = 5,000) has been investigated by using a combination of the particle image velocimetry and planar laser-induced fluorescence methods. Advection and turbulent and molecular diffusions are evaluated based on the measured distributions of the mean velocity and concentration and the Reynolds stresses and fluxes. As has been quantified from the data, the flow swirl intensifies the entrainment of the surrounding fluid and promotes mass and momentum exchange in the outer mixing layer. A superimposed swirl results in the appearance of a wake/recirculation region at the jet axis and, consequently, the formation of an inner shear layer. In contrast to the scalar admixture, the momentum exchange in the inner shear layer is found to be strongly intensified by the swirl. For the jet with the highest considered swirl rate, a substantial portion of the surrounding fluid is found to enter the unsteady central recirculation zone, where it mixes with the jet that is issued from the nozzle. The contribution of the coherent velocity fluctuations, which are induced by large-scale vortex structures, to the turbulent transport has been evaluated based on triple decomposition, which was based on proper orthogonal decomposition analysis of the velocity data sets. For the considered domain of the jet with the highest swirl rate and vortex breakdown, the contributions of detected helical vortex structures, inducing pressing vortex core, to the radial fluxes of the flow momentum and the scalar admixture are found to locally exceed 65% and 80%, respectively.     

On the analysis of turbulent transport processes in nonreacting multijet burner flows

Measurements of time-resolved velocity characteristics have been obtained with a laser-Doppler velocimeter in the vicinity of a model of an industrial oxy-fuel burner. The burner consists of a central axisymmetric jet surrounded by 16 circular jets, simulating the injection of oxygen in practical burners. The experiments were carried out for isothermal flows and quantify the effect of swirl for 0 ≤ S ≤ 0.9 on the mixing efficiency of the burner assembly. The results show that the present flow develops faster than related coaxial free jets with similar velocity ratios between central and peripheral air streams and, for example, for the nonswirling flow the rate of decay of the centreline velocity increases by a factor of 2. Swirl attenuates the three-dimensional structure typical of multijet flows although the peripheral jets limit the radial spreading of the swirling flow and give rise to increased values of mean shear strain and, therefore, to turbulent production. The existence of zones characterized by large turbulence anisotropy indicate the need to take account of the individual normal stresses in any proposed mathematical model to simulate the flow characteristics. Inspection of the terms in the conservation equation for the turbulent stresses quantify the extent to which interaction of normal stresses with normal strains influences the flow and suggests the likely combined magnitude of turbulent diffusion and dissipation.     

Swirl effects on variable-density jet mixing in confined flows

An experimental investigation on swirl effects on inhomogeneous confined jet mixing in a combustor configuration is reported. The confined swirling flow was simulated by a swirler with a central jet mounted in a cyclindrical tube. Helium and air jets set at different velocities were injected into the confined swirling air flow. The resulting flow fields due to two vane swirlers with constant vane angles of 35° and 66° were compared. Results show that the 35° vane swirler produces a solid-body rotation core with a slope about twice that created by the 66° vane swirler. It is the behavior of this solid-body rotation core that determines jet mixing rather than the swirler vane angle. Consequently, the coaxial jet decays much faster, the mixing is more intense, and the turbulence intensities are higher for the 35° vane swirler. In view of these results, combustor designers should be more concerned with behavior of the solid-body rotation core produced by the swirler, instead of the swirler vane angle.     

Experiments on the formation of a recirculation zone in swirling coaxial jets

 The near flow field of coaxial air jets, with swirl in the outer one, was studied using flow visualization and hot-wire anemometry. The flow is sensitive to both the swirl number and the mass flow ratio between the outer and inner jets. A necessary condition for the formation of an internal recirculation zone (IRZ) is that the swirl number must exceed a minimum value which depends on the mass flow ratio. Spectral analysis of the velocity fluctuations indicates that the formation of an IRZ in the present flow does not appear to be related to the growth of convective flow instabilities. Analysis of the flow visualization and X-wire data indicates that the vorticity dynamics model for vortex breakdown proposed by Brown and Lopez [J Fluid Mech (1990) 222: 553] provides a plausible mechanism for the formation of an IRZ in this flow. Received: 14 June 1999/Accepted: 7 December 1999     

Regimes of spray formation in gas-centered swirl coaxial atomizers

Spray formation in ambient atmosphere from gas-centered swirl coaxial atomizers is described by carrying out experiments in a spray test facility. The atomizer discharges a circular air jet and an axisymmetric swirling water sheet from its coaxially arranged inner and outer orifices. A high-speed digital imaging system along with a backlight illumination arrangement is employed to record the details of liquid sheet breakup and spray development. Spray regimes exhibiting different sheet breakup mechanisms are identified and their characteristic features presented. The identified spray regimes are wave-assisted sheet breakup, perforated sheet breakup, segmented sheet breakup, and pulsation spray regime. In the regime of wave-assisted sheet breakup, the sheet breakup shows features similar to the breakup of two-dimensional planar air-blasted liquid sheets. At high air-to-liquid momentum ratios, the interaction process between the axisymmetric swirling liquid sheet and the circular air jet develops spray processes which are more specific to the atomizer studied here. The spray exhibits a periodic ejection of liquid masses whose features are dominantly controlled by the central air jet.     

Liquid film break-up in a model of a prefilming airblast nozzle

 The paper describes the atomisation process of a liquid in an axissymmetric shear layer formed through the interaction of turbulent coaxial jets (respectively, inner and outer jets), with and without swirl, in a model airblast prefilming atomiser. The atomisation process and spray quality was studied using different visualisation techniques, namely laser shadowgraphy and digital image acquisition. The experiments were conducted for different liquid flow rates, Reynolds numbers ranging from 6600 to 66000 and 27300 to 92900 for the inner and outer air flows, respectively, for different outer flow swirl levels, and two liquid film thicknesses −0.2 and 0.7 mm. All the tests were carried out at atmospheric pressure and using water. The results include the analysis of the film structure at break-up and of the break-up length, and suggest that the deterioration of the liquid film close to the atomising edge exhibits a periodic behaviour and is mainly dependent on the inner air velocity. Film thickness strongly affects the time and length scales of the break-up process for the lower range of air velocities. For higher inner air velocities, the break-up length and time become less dependent on liquid flow rate and initial film thickness. Received: 14 March 1997/Accepted: 27 October 1997     

旋流燃烧室内湍流燃烧速度场的实验研究

建立了采用分级进风方式的同轴射流旋流燃烧室实验装置，选用耐高温的氧化铝细粉作为示踪粒子，实现了用三维激光粒子动态分析仪(PDA)测量湍流旋流燃烧的热态瞬时速度场．在分级进风比率和旋流致不同的3组实验工况条件下，得到了气体时均轴向与切向速度、轴向与切向脉动速度均方根值和轴向—切向脉动速度二阶关联量的分布．     

Nonlinear instability of an annular liquid sheet exposed to gas flow

Nonlinear instability and breakup of an annular liquid sheet has been modeled in this paper. The liquid sheet is considered to move axially and is exposed to co-flowing inner and outer gas streams. Also, the effect of outer gas swirl on sheet breakup has been studied. In the developed model a perturbation expansion method has been used with the initial magnitude of the disturbance as the perturbation parameter. This is a comprehensive model in that other geometries of planar sheet and a coaxial jet can be obtained as limiting cases of very large inner radius and inner radius equal to zero, respectively. In this temporal analysis, the effect of liquid Weber number, initial disturbance amplitude, inner gas-to-liquid velocity ratio, outer gas-to-liquid velocity ratio and outer gas swirl strength on the breakup time is investigated. The model is validated by comparison with earlier analytical studies for the limiting case of a planar sheet as well as with experimental data of sheet breakup length available in literature. It is shown that the linear theory cannot predict breakup of an annular sheet and the developed nonlinear model is necessary to accurately determine the breakup length. In the limiting case of a coaxial jet, results show that gas swirl destabilizes the jet, makes helical modes dominant compared to the axisymmetric mode and decreases jet breakup length. These results contradict earlier linear analyses and agree with experimental observations. For an annular sheet, it is found that gas flow hastens the sheet breakup process and shorter breakup lengths are obtained by increasing the inner and the outer gas velocity. Axially moving inner gas stream is more effective in disintegrating the annular sheet compared to axially moving outer gas stream. When both gas streams are moving axially, the liquid sheet breakup is quicker compared to that with any one gas stream. In the absence of outer gas swirl, the axisymmetric mode is the dominant instability mode. However, when outer gas flow has a swirl component higher helical modes become dominant. With increasing outer gas swirl strength, the maximum disturbance growth rate increases and the most unstable circumferential wave number increases resulting in a highly asymmetric sheet breakup with shorter breakup lengths and thinner ligaments.     

Reynolds stress modelling of jet and swirl interaction inside a gas turbine combustor

Influences of the inlet swirl levels on the interaction between the dilution air jets and the swirling cross‐flow to the interior flow field inside a gas turbine combustor were investigated numerically by Reynolds stress transport model (RSTM). Due to the intense swirl and jet interaction, a high level of swirl momentum is transported to the centreline and hence, an intense vortex core is formed. The strength of the centreline vortex core was found to depend on the inlet swirl levels. For the higher swirling inlet, the decay of the swirling motion causes strong streamline variation of pressure; and consequently leads to an elevated level of deceleration of its axial velocity. Predictions contrasted with measurements indicate that the stress model reproduces the flow correctly and is able to reflect the influences of inlet swirl levels on the interior flow structure. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Temporal analysis of breakup for a power law liquid jet in a swirling gas

The breakup mechanism and instability of a power law liquid jet are investigated in this study. The power law model is used to account for the non-Newtonian behavior of the liquid fluid. A new theoretical model is established to explain the breakup of a power law liquid jet with axisymmetric and asymmetric disturbances, which moves in a swirling gas. The corresponding dispersion relation is derived by a linear approximation, and it is applicable for both shear-thinning and shear-thickening liquid jets. Analysis results are calculated based on the temporal mode. The analysis includes the effects of the generalized Reynolds number, the Weber number, the power law exponent, and the air swirl strength on the breakup of the jet. Results show that the shear-thickening liquid jet is more unstable than its Newtonian and shear-thinning counterparts when the effect of the air swirl is taken into account. The axisymmetric mode can be the dominant mode on the power law jet breakup when the air swirl strength is strong enough, while the non-axisymmetric mode is the domination on the instability of the power liquid jet with a high We and a low Re _n . It is also found that the air swirl is a stabilizing factor on the breakup of the power law liquid jet. Furthermore, the instability characteristics are different for different power law exponents. The amplitude of the power law liquid jet surface on the temporal mode is also discussed under different air swirl strengths.     

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.     

Flow field characterization of coaxial conical and serrated (chevron) nozzles

PIV measurements were performed to provide insight into the effect of serrated (chevron) nozzles on the flow field of a coaxial circular jet. The serrations were tested on the primary nozzle. Mean flow results showed that the chevron effectively redistributes momentum from the high velocity center stream outward to the lower velocity secondary stream by creating lateral jets. This leads to a more rapid decay of the peak jet velocity and a consequent reduction in the length of the jet potential core. Local increases of up to 65% in the outer stream velocity were measured. The interaction of the secondary jets with the lower velocity outer stream produces increases in turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) near the center nozzle lip. These flow field effects correlate with the jet’s acoustic emissions: Reduction of low-frequency noise due to large scale mixing and potential core shortening, and increased high-frequency noise due to increased near-field turbulence.     

Experimental investigation of axisymmetric coaxial synthetic jets

Measurements were made in the near field of piston driven axisymmetric coaxial synthetic jets emanating from an orifice and a surrounding annulus of equal exit areas and cavity volumes. Piston velocity, amplitude, radial spacing between the orifice and the annulus, and exit angles had a strong influence on the dominant features of the flow. Flow visualization revealed three distinct topologies of the jet consisting of expanding, contracting and recirculating regions and doubling of the number of foci inside of the cavity compared to jet from the orifice alone. The direction of the swirl/rotation imposed on the mean flow was also dependent on the direction of the rotation of dominant foci. Interaction between flow from the orifice and the annulus amplified the azimuthal instability of ring vortices due to the periodic axial stretching and compression of the streamwise vortex filaments. Bifurcation of ring vortices into elliptical lobes reported earlier [S.V. Gaimella, V.P. Schroeder, Local heat transfer distributions in confined multiple air impingement, ASME Journal of Electronic Packaging 123 (3) (2001) 165–172] for single cavity jet was also observed in the coaxial jet. The number of cellular structures however was considerably larger than the single jet case. Large excursions of the jets from the plane of symmetry were observed. Power spectra exhibited sub-harmonic distribution of energy due to coalescence of the vortices. Growth of jet width and decay of centerline velocity were strongly influenced by the spacing and forcing frequency.     

Axial plus tangential entry swirling jet

This paper presents an experimental investigation on swirling jets with well-defined initial conditions. The axial, radial, and azimuthal velocity components, with their respective fluctuations were measured using high spatial–resolution particle image velocimetry. These detailed measurements allow the initial conditions of the swirling jets to be established and the jets to be characterized using various swirl number definitions. The significance of each term in the swirl number calculations are quantified, and the effect of the common assumptions and simplifications are examined. The characteristics of the jets in relation to the initial conditions are then investigated and compared with the previous studies using similar characterization parameters. Jets with Reynolds number of approximately 5700 and swirl conditions ranging from a non-swirling reference case to high swirl are studied. General properties of swirling jets such as higher spreading rate, higher centerline velocity decay, and higher turbulence level are observed. When the degree of swirl is sufficiently high, vortex breakdown occurs. A swirl number of 0.94 is recorded for a high swirl case prior to vortex breakdown, much higher than the critical swirl number reported in the literature. This behavior is attributed to the effect of the initial conditions on the swirl number calculation.     

Near field shock structure of dual co-axial jets

Experimental results on the shock structure of dual co-axial jets are presented. The effects of the geometric parameters of the inner nozzle, jet static pressure ratio (ratio of the exit plane static pressures of the inner and outer nozzles) and the ratio of outer to inner nozzle throat area on the shock structure were studied. A superimposed outer and inner jet structure was observed in the schlieren photographs. The inner flow is compressed by the outer flow resulting in the formation of a Mach disc and an exit shock. A parameter incorporating the effect of Mach number of the inner nozzle and jet static pressure ratio was found to correlate the observations regarding the Mach disc location.     

Near-field instability of variable property jet in normal gravity and microgravity fields

The near-field instability of variable property jets of air, CO₂, and He, issued into the ambient air, has been investigated experimentally within normal gravity and microgravity fields. The density ratio to the ambient air is unity for air jets, more than unity (1.53) for CO₂ jets, and less than unity (0.14) for He jets, respectively. The ratio of kinematic viscosity to the ambient air is unity for air jets, less than unity for CO₂ jets (0.53), and more than unity for He jets (7.75), respectively. The jet velocity is varied from 0.4 to 1.8 m/s and then the jet Reynolds number varies from 60 for Helium jet to 2,000 for CO₂ jet, while the Richardson number varies from negative to positive values. The motion of the jet is visualized using a laser tomographic method and recorded by a high-speed digital video camera with 250 frames/s. The result shows that the instability of the jet is intensified when Re > 800 while it is weakened at Re < 800 at the microgravity field, indicating that the viscosity plays an important role in weakening the instability. Under a normal gravity field, the buoyancy also becomes important. In order to quantify the instability criteria, the quantity of the instability is introduced, which consists of the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability, buoyancy effect and viscous effect. When the ratio of the sum of Kelvin–Helmholtz and buoyancy forces to viscous force exceeds a certain value, around 12 in the present study, the jet becomes unstable even when Re < 800. These results reveal that the instability of variable property jets is influenced by the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability, the viscous effect and the buoyancy effect.