abstract
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Investigation of the near field dynamics of a single and tandem array of three jets are provided by 2-D time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TR-PIV) measurements. Instantaneous velocity fields are examined in the transverse and spanwise planes with jet to cross flow velocity ratios in the range from 0.9 to 1.7. Previous studies have shown that for high ratios (2), the leading jet provides sufficient shielding to ensure that all jets downstream exhibit nearly identical flow characteristics. The current transverse plane measurements exhibit more unique and localized features as a result of the competing effects of pressure gradients and vortex mechanisms assessed via the jet exit profiles, first and second order turbulent statistics, streamline trajectories, recirculation areas, and penetrations depths. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is applied to the spanwise plane instantaneous velocity fields to determine the statistically dominant features of the single and tandem jet configurations at equivalent velocity ratios. The velocity fields are then reconstructed using the truncated POD modes to provide further insight into the shear layer and wake vortices that drive these configurations. Vortex identification algorithms are applied to the reconstructed velocity fields to determine the statistical characteristics of the vortices, including their centroids, populations, areas, and strengths, each of which exhibit largely different dependencies on jet configuration and velocity ratio. Several of the investigated metrics are found to exhibit different behaviors below and above a velocity ratio of unity, and also as a function of increasing velocity ratio between 1 and 2, implying that several transitions mechanisms are present in the low velocity ratio regime investigated herein.