Coherent Structures and Correlation Fields in the Mixing Transition of a Turbulent Round Free Jet

Abstract

Turbulent free jets attracted the focus of many scientists within the past century regarding the understanding of mass- and momentum transport in the turbulent shear field, especially in the near-field and the self-similar region. Recent investigations attempt to understand the intermediate fields, called the mixing transition or ‘the route to self-similarity’. An apparent gap is recognized in light of this mixing transition, with two main conjectures being put forth. Firstly the flow will always asymptotically reach a fully self-similar state if boundary conditions permit. The second proposes partial and local self-similarity within the mixing transition. We address the later with an experimental investigation of the intermediate field turbulence dynamics in a non-confined free jet with a nozzle diameter of 12.7 mm and an outer scale Reynolds number of 15,000. High speed Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is used to record the velocity fields with a final spatial resolution of 194 × 194 μm2. The analysis focuses on higher order moments and two-point correlations of velocity variances in space and time. We observed local self-similarity in the measured correlation fields. Coherent structures are present within the near-field where the turbulent energy spectrum cascades along a dissipative slope. Towards the transition region, the spectrum smoothly transforms to a viscous cascade, as it is commonly observed in the self-similar region.