Penetration and Mixing of Fully Modulated Turbulent Jets in Crossflow

Fully-modulated, incompressible, turbulent transverse jets were studied experimentally over a range of pulsing frequencies, duty-cycles, and at two jet-to-crossflow velocity ratios. The jet flow was completely modulated by operating a solenoid valve resulting in the shut off of jet supply during a portion of the cycle. The planar laserinduced fluorescence technique was used to determine the penetration, dilution, and structural features of the pulsed jets. The molecular mixing rate was quantified through a chemical reaction between the jet and crossflow fluids. Short injection times resulted in creation of vortex ring structures whereas long injection times produced axially elongated turbulent puffs, similar to a segment of the steady jet. The latter case resulted in only modest enhancement of the jet penetration depth and dilution. Pulsed jets dominated by vortex ring had penetration depths significantly greater than a steady jet with the same velocity ratio. Penetration of up to about 5 times the steady jet value at 50 jet diameters downstream of the jet exit was observed with 200 ms pulses. Duty-cycle had a significant effect on the performance of pulsed jets with short injection times. Increasing the duty-cycle for a fixed injection time diminished the jet penetration. The dilution and mixing rates of pulsed jets with short injection time were also increased over the steady jet. The greatest reduction in the mixing rate was approximately 50% for well-separated pulses with short injection times.