Comparison of Far-Field Turbulent Structure of a Rectangular Surface Jet to Three-Dimensional Free and Wall Jets

Abstract

The turbulence structure of a rectangular surface jet is compared to that of the three-dimensional free and wall jets. The surface jet turbulence quantities are mapped using laser Doppler velocimetry. In general, the turbulence structure of these three jets is found to be significantly different. For the surface jet, the free surface kinematic condition has a predominant effect on the whole structure, while for the wall jet, the influence of wall kinematic constraint is contained in the wall layer. A surface current with a higher lateral spreading rate than the submerged portion of the jet is developed, which does not exist for the wall jet because of the no-slip boundary condition. Unlike free jets, the submerged portion of the rectangular surface jet is characterized by two length scales. The Prandtl hypothesis with constant eddy viscosity provides a good estimate for the shear stresses in the lateral direction, but fails in the vertical direction, where the velocity profiles are much flatter, due to the free surface condition, than those for the free and wall jets.