LDV measurement and Navier-Stokes computation of parallel jet mixing in a rectangular confinement

Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) measurements were taken in a rectangular confinement into which issues a row of parallel jets. Two-component measurements were taken with two optics orientations yielding three mean velocity components and four Reynolds stress components. As observed in isolated three dimensional wall bounded jets, the transverse diffusion of the jets is quite large. The data indicates that this rapid mixing process is due to strong secondary flows, transport of large inlet intensities and Reynolds stress anisotropy effects. Navier-Stokes analyses of this configuration underpredict the rate of transverse jet diffusion. Detailed numerical accuracy studies show that this is attributed to shortcomings in low-Reynolds number two-equation turbulence modelling. A low-Reynolds number full-Reynolds stress model is shown to provide improvement