3D flow visualization of axisymmetric jets at Reynolds number 6,700 and 10,200
- Student: Kyle Lynch
- Funding Agency: Army Research Office
A recently developed 3D flow visualization system was used to capture instantaneous 3-D images in the near-field of an axisymmetric jet at Reynolds number 6,700 and 10,200. The 3D images, which were acquired through the scanning of a pulsed MHz-rate laser sheet, have spatial resolution of up to 312 x 260 x 100 voxels and time resolution of 100 μs, producing effectively instantaneous, high-resolution 3-D images of the jet. These images represent the first truly volumetric flow visualization images to be captured in the near-field of a jet over this range of Reynolds numbers. The images show the formation of large-scale axisymmetric vortex rings along with the formation of counter-rotating streamwise vortex pairs that surround the periphery of the jet in a periodic manner and co-exist with the ring vortices. The azimuthal frequency of the streamwise vortices increases with Reynolds number from 10 to 14 structures around the circumference at Re = 6,700 to 18–22 structures at Re = 10,200. In some instances, the streamwise vortices are observed to maintain their phase and span across several vortex rings in the streamwise direction. In other instances, however, the streamwise vortices display abrupt changes in the downstream direction. The images also display a complex interaction between the vortex rings and streamwise structures in the transition region near the end of the potential core illustrating the importance of the streamwise vortices on the evolution of the jet flow.
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| Two examples of 3D flow visualization images of the Re = 10,200 turbulent jet | |
Cross-sectional slices rendered from volumetric data set.
For more information, please see:
- Lynch, K. and Thurow, B., “3-D Flow Visualization of Axisymmetric Jets at Reynolds number 6,700 and 10,200,” Journal of Visualization, Vol. 15, Issue 4, pp. 309-319, 2012.
- Thurow, B., and Lynch, K., “Development of a High-Speed Three Dimensional Flow Visualization Technique,” AIAA Journal, Vol. 47, pp. 2857-2865, 2009.
- Lynch, K. and Thurow, B.S., “POD Analysis of 3-D Flow Visualization Images of a Circular Jet with Reynolds Number 9500,” AIAA Paper 2009-4303, 39th AIAA Fluid Dynamics Conference, San Antonio, TX, June 2009.
