Influence of coherent structures on the evolution of an axisymmetric turbulent jet

The role of initial conditions in affecting the evolution toward self-similarity of an axisymmetric turbulent jet is examined. The jet’s near-field coherence was manipulated by non-circular exit geometries of identical open area, De2, including a square and a fractal exit, for comparison with a classical round orifice jet. Hot-wire anemometry and 2D-planar particle image velocimetry experiments were performed between the exit and a location 26De downstream, where the Reynolds stress profiles are self-similar. This study shows that a fractal geometry significantly changes the near-field structure of the jet, breaking up the large-scale coherent structures, thereby affecting the entrainment rate of the background fluid into the jet stream. It is found that many of the jet’s turbulent characteristics scale with the number of eddy turnover times rather than simply the streamwise coordinate, with the entrainment rate (amongst others) found to be comparable across the different jets after approximately 3-4 eddi...