Dynamics of laminar circular jet impingement upon convex cylinders

Abstract

Flow dynamics associated with a laminar circular jet impinging upon a convex cylinder has been investigated by laser-induced fluorescence and digital particle-image velocimetry techniques. Cylinder-to-jet diameter ratios of 1, 2, and 4 were investigated, while the jet-to-cylinder separation distance was kept at four jet diameters throughout. Flow visualization and λ2 criterion results show that once the jet ring-vortices impinge upon the cylindrical surface, they move away from the impingement point by wrapping themselves partially around the surface. As the cylinder diameter increases, wall boundary layer separation, vortex dipole formation, and separation locations are initiated earlier along the cylindrical surface, producing significantly larger wakes. Along the cylinder straight-edges, ring-vortex cores are significantly smaller after impingement. This is due to accentuated vortex-stretching caused by partial wrapping around the cylindrical surface by the ring-vortices, on top of their movement away from the impingement point. Interestingly, vortex dipoles demonstrate a strong tendency to travel upstream and interact with other upstream vortex dipoles, instead of moving downstream gradually seen for flat-surface jet-impingements. Wall shear stress results are also presented to quantify the effects of cylinder diameter-ratio on surface skin friction distribution. Finally, these preceding observations are corroborated and explained in a three-dimensional flow dynamics model presented here.