A Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of a Confined Vortex Oscillator

Abstract

A theoretical and experimental study was carried out in both air and water of the forced and temporally periodic motion that occurs in a double input vortex chamber when two jets of nearly equal momentum impinge along a common tangent. The motion is described in terms of an oscillator that derives its energy from the hydrodynamic instability of the resulting swirling flow and whose frequency is determined by the inertance and capacitance of the system. The experimental data, expressed in terms of the relevant dynamic parameters, are found to be in fair agreement with those predicted theoretically.