Flow characterization of a submerged inclined impinging pulse jet

Abstract

This study investigated flow characteristics associated with a circular pulse-impinging jet on an inclined surface using dye visualization and particle image velocimetry techniques. The experiments are carried out for various pulse frequencies (0.1 < St < 0.9) of the jet, a constant angle of surface inclination (θ = 26°), and fixed surface spacing. The primary objective is to explore the flow dynamics aspect of pulse-inclined impinging jets with respect to the pulse frequency and Reynolds number. The present observation shows that at a certain degree of surface inclination (θ ≈ 28°), the jet momentum drives the entire flow in the downhill direction, which represents the critical angle of inclination. Furthermore, the critical angle of the inclination remains unchanged for both steady and pulse jets. The interaction of the inner and outer shear layers of the jet in the downhill direction highly depends on the pulse frequency, which is indeed triggered by the free jet vortices. In a free jet, the vortex formation and their growth depend on the jet shear layer response (convective acceleration) and the time available for vortex formation (local acceleration). Moreover, the instantaneous jet information reveals that the presence of the growing vortices increases the jet entrainment, and its movement along the surface enhances the mixing (shear stress) between the surrounding and boundary layer fluid. The results show that pulsation at Strouhal Number (St) = 0.44 help develop more coherent and durable vortices impinging on the surface, which is identical to the critical St for free and normal impinging jets. Pulsation near the critical St increases the jet entrainment and mixing between the inner and outer jet shear layers and is responsible for enhancement in the heat transfer rate. The results improve our understanding of heat transfer from pulse-inclined impinging jet and reinforce the existence of a critical St (= 0.44) with an inclined pulsing jet, providing the criteria for maximizing the heat transfer rate. © 2024 Author(s).