Air Entrainment in the Developing Flow Region of Plunging Jets—Part 1: Theoretical Development

Abstract

Air-water bubbly flows are encountered in many engineering applications. One type of air-water shear flows is the developing flow region of a plunging jet. The mechanisms of air entrainment by plunging liquid jets are discussed in the light of new experimental evidence. Then the air bubble diffusion is analyzed analytically in the near-flow field of both circular and two-dimensional plunging jets. The theoretical developments are compared with existing circular plunging jet data and new experiments performed with a two-dimensional vertical supported jet. The study highlights two mechanisms of air entrainment at the plunge point depending upon the jet impact velocity and results suggest that the dispersion of air bubbles within the shear layer is primarily an advective diffusion process.