A study of the turbulent flow of a high speed Coanda jet

Abstract

This thesis presents an experimental investigation into a compressible turbulent wall jet issuing from a slot, and flowing over a surface with streamwise curvature, followed by a plane wall recovery region. The purpose of this data was to provide suitable test cases to aid in the design and validation of turbulence models used for curved flow situations in computational fluid dynamics. The presence of streamwise curvature provides an extra rate of strain to the flow which effects both the mean flow field and the turbulence structure. The effects of curvature are dependent on the ratio of the slot width to the radius of curvature. The effects are increased with the magnitude of this ratio. Hot film anemometry was used to measure the mean flow and Reynolds stresses under six different flow regimes. Four experiments were performed using a constant slot to radius ratio, and the supply pressure ratio was varied. Two further experiments were performed at a constant pressure ratio, but at differing slot to radius ratios. In all cases, the extra rate of strain was found to increase the jet growth and velocity decay rates beyond those of a plane wall jet. 'History effects' were apparent where there was a change from flow with streamwise wall curvature to that without. The turbulence structure was found to require a finite distance along the recovery section before it reverts to a plane wall turbulence structure. The presence of the extra rate of strain, and the history effects at sudden changes in surface curvature, make strong demands on any turbulence model. Various turbulence models have been tested, and although no one turbulence model has proved robust enough for all flow situations, a number of models have been identified to provide superior performance under certain conditions. The use of a higher order numerical scheme has also been found to reduce the effects of numerical diffusion, leading to improvements in the predictions of the flow shock cell structure and the breakaway performance of the jet.