On the Development of Incompressible Round and Equilateral Triangular Jets Due to Reynolds Number Variation

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of Reynolds number (Re = 6000–20,000) on mean and turbulent quantities as well as turbulent structures in the near and intermediate regions of equilateral triangular and round sharp contraction jets. The results show shorter potential core length, faster growth of turbulence intensity, and faster diffusion of turbulent structures to the centerline of the triangular jets, implying enhanced mixing in the near field of these jets. On the other hand, the velocity decay and jet spread rates are higher in the round jets. The obtained data in the round jets show that the jet at Re = 6000 has the most effective mixing, while an increase in Reynolds number reduces the mixing performance. In the triangular jets, however, no Reynolds number effects were observed on the measured quantities including the length of the potential core, the decay and spread rates, the axis-switching locations, and the value of the Reynolds number. In addition, the asymptotic values of the relative turbulence intensities on the jet centerline are almost independent of the Reynolds number and geometry. The ratios of transverse and spanwise Reynolds stresses are unity except close to the jet exit where the flow pattern in the major plane of the triangular jet deflects toward the flat side. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis revealed that turbulent structures in minor and major planes have identical fractional kinetic energy. The integral length scales increased linearly with the streamwise distance with identical slope for all the test cases.