Research on the vortical and turbulent structures in the lobed jet flow using laser induced fluorescence and particle image velocimetry techniques

Abstract. The changes in vortical and turbulent structure in the near field (X/D < 3.0) of jet mixing flow caused by a lobed nozzle were investigated experimentally in the present study. The techniques of planar laser induced fluorescence and particle image velocimetry were used to accomplish flow visualization and velocity field measurements. The experimental results showed that, compared with a circular jet flow, lobed jet mixing flow was found to have a shorter laminar region, a smaller scale of the spanwise Kelvin–Helmholtz vortices, earlier appearance of small scale turbulent structures and a larger region of intensive mixing in the near field of the jet mixing flow. The central line velocity decay of the lobed jet mixing flow was also found to be much faster than that in a conventional circular jet. All these indicated that the lobed nozzle provides better mixing performance than does a conventional circular nozzle.