Large eddy simulation of a swirling transverse jet into a crossflow with investigation of scalar transport

The flow field of a turbulent jet emerging from a straight round pipe into a laminar crossflow is investigated by means of large eddy simulations. The concentration of a passive scalar, introduced with the jet, is calculated in order to quantify the mixing of the jet and the crossflow. In the jet, swirl is introduced by means of body forces and a range of jet swirl numbers from S=0 up to S=0.6 is studied. The impact of the jet swirl on the flow field, on the coherent structures, and on the mixing efficiency is investigated and quantified by means of various analyses. It is found that for all swirl numbers larger than zero a clear asymmetry appears in all quantities studied. Additional to the two hanging vortices at both sides of the jet a third vortex is introduced by the swirling pipe flow which interacts with the former. This feature is described in detail as it is not mentioned in the literature. For the strongest swirl investigated a recirculation zone near the jet exit is observed. Despite the asymmetry and even with a recirculation zone at the outlet, the counter-rotating vortex pair still exists in all cases in the downstream flow, where it entrains a large amount of crossflow fluid into the jet. The near field, however, is altered by the jet swirl in several respects. The jet more and more approaches the bottom wall with increasing swirl. As a result, the entrainment is gradually attenuated due to the larger blocking of the secondary flow by the wall. Increased swirl increases both the turbulent kinetic energy in the pipe and the vorticity of the average flow field near the jet exit, and thus stimulates the mixing in these regions. However, this stimulating effect is overwhelmed by the closer position of the jet trajectory to the wall of the channel with increasing swirl, which in turn reduces entrainment of fresh crossflow fluid into the jet. As a final result of these two competing effects, the overall mixing efficiency of a jet into a crossflow is merely unchanged with the addition of swirl. Various mixing indices, both spatial and temporal, are used for this analysis. Their respective advantages and disadvantages are discussed and detailed illustrations provide a sound understanding of their behavior. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI:10.1063/1.3054148]