Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 5161

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Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science

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Experimental characterization of air-entrainment in a plunging jet

Xiaoliang Qu 1, Afshin Goharzadeh , Lyes Khezzar, Arman Molki
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Petroleum Institute, P.O. Box 2533, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents a detailed experimental study of a plunging jet on a free liquid surface. An experi-
Received 14 June 2011 mental characterization facility is designed and constructed for generating a vertical round water jet
Received in revised form 15 May 2012 impinging on a free surface of a pool. The experimental analysis focuses on the jet penetration depth,
Accepted 26 May 2012
its relation to impact velocity Vj and free jet falling length Lj. The results obtained are compared with pre-
Available online 4 June 2012
vious studies. The owmap for four different regimes, in terms of impact jet velocity is obtained. The
details of the two-dimensional velocity eld below the pool liquid free surface under a no-entrainment
Keywords:
regime, are obtained using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and reveal the spatial extent of the entrained
Impinging jet
Particle Image Velocimetry
region. The initial impact process and air cavity features are also investigated and compared with previ-
Flow map regime ous semi-theoretical results.
Air entrainment 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction understanding of the entrainment of gas bubble generation process

A variety of industrial processes such as aeration of chemical
reactions, pouring of liquids in containers and agitation of molten
liquid phase involve complex two phase ow generated from an
impinging jet on a liquid surface [1].
Understanding the mechanism of jet impingement on a free li-
quid surface has direct impact on equipment design in the energy
industry such as emergency cooling injections in nuclear reactors
or oil spill contaminant recovery. To date, the majority of studies,
published on plunging jet ow have focused on the average and
global dynamic behavior of air/water mixture under the free liquid
surface [1]. From such studies four major regimes related to the
concentration of bubbles inside the water below the free surface
were identied: no-entrainment, incipient entrainment, intermit-
tent entrainment and continuous entrainment.
Time averaged parameters, such as the bubble plume depth
penetration, bubbles size distribution, and void fraction, have been
addressed and reported previously notably by Schmidtke et al. [2],
Bonetto and Lahey [3] and Chirichella et al. [4]. The gas entrain-
ment below the liquid pool surface is controlled by several proper-
ties such as the liquid jet turbulence content, liquid viscosity and
surface tension, jet surface topology prior to impact and its velocity
at impact and the complex transient liquid motion induced during
impact. However, detailed knowledge of the velocity eld distribu-
tion below the liquid pool surface which could contribute to the
Corresponding author. Tel.: +971 2 607 5396; fax: +971 2 607 5200.
E-mail address: agoharzadeh@pi.ac.ae (A. Goharzadeh).
1
Address: Borouge (Abu Dhabi Polymers Co. Ltd.), P.O. Box 11764, Ruwais, Abu
Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
is very scant.
This information would be very useful for testing computational
multiphase ow models [58]. Cumings and Chanson [9] reported
the measurement of mean airwater velocity using a Pitot-tube
connected to a pressure transducer. They observed that the shape
of the velocity prole is similar to single phase ows and the rate of
spread of the jet shear layer is enhanced by entrained bubbles.
McKeogh and Ervine [10] investigated the air distribution of fully
developed two-phase ow by measuring the velocity prole with
Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV). Bonneto and Lahey [3] apply a
similar measurement technique (LDV) to study the relationship be-
tween velocity prole and void fraction in both developing and
fully developed ow regions. Iguchi et al. [11] focused on mean
velocity proles in both radial and axial direction. They applied
the Laser Doppler Velocimetry technique in the bubble dispersion
region produced by a vertical water plunging jet on a transparent
water bath. However, because of the specic nature of the mea-
surement techniques, previous experimental results were in the
form of velocity distributions along a single radial or axial direc-
tion. Recently, Hamad [12], applied the Particle Image Velocimetry
technique to obtain two-dimensional (2D) velocity elds in the re-
gion beneath the interface, with and without air entrainment. He
measured the turbulent mean velocity elds and corresponding
root mean square (RMS) in the developing ow region. Two dimen-
sional velocity distributions reveal information of global nature of
the ow which is key for understanding the mechanism of air
entrainment and validating computational multiphase ow mod-
els [58].
In the quest for understanding the mechanism of air entrain-
ment by the liquid jet, several studies focused on the transient
behavior of the liquid jet as it makes contact with the free surface

0894-1777/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.expthermusci.2012.05.013
52 X. Qu et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 5161

Nomenclature

c constant (m) Lh height of the hollow (m)

d bubble diameter (m) Lj jet falling length (m)
D nozzle inner diameter (m) Qj volumetric ow rate (m3/s)
Dc diameter of the approximated cavity hemisphere (m) s cavity depth height under water level during initial im-
Dj jet impinging diameter (m) pact
Dh diameter of the hollow produced by the jet (m) t time (s)
f focusing length of lens (m) v measured mean axial velocity (m/s)
Fr Froude number (dimensionless) Vc penetration velocity of the cavity front (m/s)
g gravitational acceleration (m/s2) V0 nozzle exit velocity (m/s)
h depth under the free surface where the velocity prole is Vj jet impact velocity (m/s)
measured (m) vrms root mean square of axial velocity (m/s)
hc air cavity pinch-off height (m) x radial position (m)
Hp jet penetration depth (m) x1/2 radial position where the velocity is V0/2 (m)
L nozzle length (m) y axial position (m)

and the subsequent topology of the phase distributions below the
free liquid surface [1315]. As the jet hits the surface a large air
cavity is initially created, it changes shape and then collapses lead-
ing ultimately to the continuous entrainment regime. Zhu et al.
[14] and Ohl et al. [15] studied the behavior of a liquid jet subject
to articially created disturbances, whereas Soh et al. [13] did not
introduce articial disturbances. Soh et al. [13] and Zhu et al. [14]
proposed semi analytical expressions for the salient dimensions of
the initial air cavity such as its depth at pinch-off, its top diameter
and the diameter of the cylindrical bottom part.
The objective of the present work is to conduct a systematic
experimental study of a plunging round water jet on a liquid pool.
Firstly, the regime map obtained by Schmidtke et al. [2] is veried
and the average penetration depth of the bubble plume is obtained
for several combinations of liquid jet outlet velocities and free jet
liquid lengths using high-speed digital photographic techniques
for the continuous entrainment regime. Secondly, experiments
are carried out to study the highly transient and complex phenom-
ena that take place from the moment the free liquid jet subject to
no initial disturbance in contrast to previous work [14], interacts
with the quiescent liquid pool, to the establishment of the contin-
uous entrainment regime. The initial interaction of the free liquid
jet with the free pool surface and the resulting entrainment phe-
nomenon is then studied and the results are contrasted with the
correlations developed for a disturbed jet by Zhu et al. [14]. Finally
the liquid velocity eld is measured below the free surface for con-
ditions of no entrainment and is used to explain certain features
related to entrainment. The experimental setup with the ow visu-
alization system used and the corresponding image processing
techniques are described in the next section followed by a presen-
tation and discussion of the results.
2. Experimental setup
The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 1. The experiments
were performed in a 0.3 m  0.3 m  0.5 m rectangular tank fabri-
cated from transparent acrylic sheets for the purpose of ow visu-
alization. A re-circulating ow was generated using a centrifugal
pump, where water, used as the working uid, was pumped out
of the tank and then re-injected into the tank by a vertical thin-
walled round nozzle made from aluminum with an inner diameter
D = 6 mm and length L = 0.5 m. The vertical nozzle was supported
by a frame fabricated from aluminum proles and carefully aligned
by means of a plumb line. Throughout the experiments, the water
level inside the tank was kept constant at a height of 0.42 m mea-
sured from the bottom of the tank.
The ow rate was controlled using a needle valve positioned
downstream of the pump and measured by a paddle wheel ow
meter (Omega model FTB603) with a permissible ow range of

Temperature
Sensor
Nozzle
Instrumentation
Module
Flow Direction

Nozzle
CCD
Camera Jet
Air
Temperature Entrainment Laser
Sensor Jet

2.2 LMP
23.2 C
Halogen CCD or Tank
Pump Water Tank Lamp Water Tank High Speed
Camera
White paper
Laser
(1) Side view (2) Top view

Drain

(a) Schematic of the experimental setup. (b) Flow visualization system.

Fig. 1. Experimental setup.
 X. Qu et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 5161
0.515 lpm with an accuracy of 3% of the reading. The ow meter
uses an infrared electro-optical transmitter and receiver to output
a square wave signal with a frequency proportional to ow rate.
The uid temperature for each experimental test was monitored
with a K-type naked-bead thermocouple. The readings of ow rate
and temperature were displayed on two electronic readout indica-
tors. Efforts were made to conduct the experiments at a constant
average temperature of 26 C to within 1 C to minimizing the tem-
perature inuence on the entrainment and ow motion.
3. Flow visualization
The experimental procedure involves ow visualization using
digital imaging, high speed photography and Particle Image Veloc-
imetry (PIV) in order to characterize different ow regimes, inves-
tigate the mechanism of air entrainment, obtain the bubbly ow
penetration depth for continuous entrainment ow regime and
measure the velocity distribution below the free surface for no-
entrainment regime.
3.1. Digital imaging
A digital single-lens reex (SLR) camera was used to obtain
high-quality digital images illustrating the different regimes. The
camera was mounted on a sturdy tripod to minimize camera vibra-
tion. It was observed that the images taken at a shutter speed of 1/
400 s produced high quality sharp results (Fig. 2a).
To extract the bubbly ow penetration depth for the continuous
entrainment regime, a high-speed camera (Photron FASTCAM SA3
model 120K C2) was used to capture instantaneous images. A se-
quence of images of the region below the water surface was taken.
A total of 2727 images, which corresponds to the maximum num-
ber of images that can be stored in the camera, were recorded
using a 50 mm lens (Nikon Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8) at a rate of
500 Hz. Images were recorded at a resolution of 1024 by 1024 pix-
els. Throughout the experiments a custom made array of high-
power light emitting diodes (LED) was used to provide suitable
and uniform backlighting. The recorded images were transferred
to a personal computer using the cameras GigaBit Ethernet inter-
face. The mechanism of air entrainment by a plunging liquid jet
during the initial phase after jet impact on the free liquid surface
was investigated by using the same high speed camera. Images
were recorded at a rate of 1500 frames per second.
(a) Single Image
Fig. 2. High speed photography images.
53
3.2. Image analysis
To measure the ow penetration depth, 2727 frames of images
were captured using a high-speed camera for each case of nozzle
height and ow rate. A steel ruler with a precision of 0.5 mm
was used as the reference scale in each recorded image. It was
visually observed from the recorded frames that the depths which
the bubbly plume reached showed relatively small changes be-
tween sequential frames. Hence, an averaged image containing
2727 frames was generated in order to obtain a statistically repre-
sentative estimation of the average penetration depth for each case
(Fig. 2b). Image processing was carried out by utilizing the Image
Processing Toolbox in MATLAB. The multi-step process rst in-
volved reading and averaging 2727 images (Fig. 3a). The next steps
involved conversion of the averaged image to gray scale mode
(Fig. 3b), subtraction of its background (Fig. 3c), and conversion
into a binary image (Fig. 3d). Conversion to binary image resulted
in a clear contour of the bubbly jet, thus aiding the depth penetra-
tion estimation. An arbitrary threshold value of 0.15 was used for
converting gray scale images to binary. This value was chosen in
order to obtain an accurate jet penetration depth in binary mode
comparable with its corresponding gray scale image. As a nal
additional step, the penetration depth was measured using the ru-
ler tool in Photoshop. Further statistical analysis of individual
sequential frames using the MATLAB software was performed for
each jet impact velocity from which a standard deviation was cal-
culated and the values of the normalized standard deviation with
the mean varied between 4% and 7% maximum which is an indica-
tion of the relative measurement error in estimating the mean pen-
etration depth of Fig. 6.
To validate the selection of the arbitrary threshold value, the re-
sults were compared to the penetration depth dened by another
approach: for each time step the lowest large bubble (d > 1 mm)
was identied and its depth was recorded as an instantaneous pen-
etration depth. It was found that the values from the two ap-
proaches were almost identical with an error less than 5%.
3.3. Velocity eld using PIV
All planar ow velocity eld measurements were taken in the
central vertical plane of the rectangular tank using PIV. To illumi-
nate this measurement plane, a vertical laser sheet was projected,
with a charge coupled device CCD camera installed perpendicular
to this plane to record the particles motion, as illustrated in
(b) Averaged Image
54 X. Qu et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 5161
(a) Original (b) Grayscale
Fig. 3. Image processing steps of averaged images.
Fig. 1b. The water was seeded with polyamide particles tracers
with a diameter of 10 lm and density of 1.016 g/cm3 for ow visu-
alization. The PIV ow eld measurements were undertaken, for
the non-entrainment regime, within a region below the water
air interface.
To observe the ow in region of interest, a lens with a focusing
length of f = 50 mm was employed and connected to an extension
tube with a total length of 14 mm between the CCD camera and the
lens. The measurement area represents the near-eld region of the
receiving liquid free surface (x  3D and y  4D) having a eld of
view of 20  25 mm2. The tracers density was 1520 particles
per interrogation area. A Yag-laser was used as the light source
for planar PIV measurements having a maximum power output
of 500 W at a wavelength of 532 nm. A cylindrical lens was used
to generate a light sheet of approximately 1 mm thickness. The
time between each couple of images was 1000 ms. The pulse sep-
aration time was adjusted to 125 ms. Full-frame images of
1600  1186 pixels were acquired and transferred to a computer
via a frame grabber.
Using the Flow Manager software developed by Dantec Dynam-
ics, the 2D PIV image was divided into 16  16 pixels size sub-re-
gions using a multi-grid correlation process with 75% overlap for
the entire region of the tank. The average particle velocities were
calculated using 500 images coupled with the cross correlation
method. The spurious vectors calculated and based on the local
median ltering were less than 3%. No smoothing data were used
for the velocity calculation.
PIV measurement accuracy can be inuenced by a range of
error sources that include, for example, tracer density, particle
(a) no-entrainment (b) incipient
(Vj=1 m/s) entrainment
(Vj=1.2 m/s)
Fig. 4. Digital photography of ow regimes (Lj = 5 cm).
(c) Background subtracted (d) Binary image
displacement, velocity gradients in the interrogation windows,
background noise of the recordings, and quantization level of the
camera. In Rafe et al. [16], a detailed discussion of the inuence
of such error sources is given. Additionally, near interface measure-
ments using PIV are often difcult and characterized by large er-
rors and uncertainties due to potential difculties encountered
with light scattering from interface boundaries.
In the present study, error analysis assessment was based on
comparing the mean velocity measured using PIV (at the exit of
the submerged jet) and the digital ow meter described in the pre-
vious section. Velocity measurement uncertainty was quantied to
be less than 7% based on comparing the average velocity derived
from PIV velocity distribution with corresponding measured ow
rate.
4. Results
The results of the experiments consist of the ow map regime,
the jet penetration depth, a description of the initial impact pro-
cess of the jet on the free surface followed by a record of the planar
velocity measurements below the pool free surface. The present re-
sults are discussed and contrasted against previously published
work.
4.1. Flowmap regime
Flow visualization experiments using the digital camera were
carried out for different jet falling lengths Lj above the free liquid
surface and volumetric ow rates Qj to establish the ow map
(c) intermittent (d) continuous
entrainment entrainment
(Vj=1.4 m/s) (Vj= 2 m/s)
 X. Qu et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 5161
regimes. The water velocity V0 at the nozzle exit ranged between
0.4 and 3.0 m/s. The jet falling length was varied between 0.01 m
and 0.2 m. According to Eq. (1) this yielded impact velocities Vj be-
tween 0.66 m/s and 3.59 m/s.
V j V 20 2gLj 1=2
For the given range of nozzle exit velocities, pipe Reynolds
numbers based on the pipe diameter and nozzle exit velocity were
calculated to be between 2400 and 18,000. If the critical Reynolds
number for pipe ow is taken equal to 2300 and considering the
length of the nozzle pipe, a fully developed turbulent pipe ow
would be expected at the nozzle exit.
In Fig. 4, the four different air entrainment regimes below the
water pool free surface, identied by Chirichilla et al. [4] and dis-
cussed by Schmidtke et al. [2] were observed in the experiments.
Fig. 5 shows the owmap regimes. Each data point character-
izes an experimental measurement for a given free jet falling
length and a nozzle velocity, resulting in a calculated impact veloc-
ity obtained by the Eq. (1).
The obtained owmap regime is in good agreement with the
pervious owmap established by Schmidtke et al. [2]. The bound-
ary between different regimes is demarcated using trend lines for
which the impact velocity V0 remains constant. It can be seen that
continuous entrainment becomes the dominant mode as Lj in-
creases. The ow visualization observations also revealed that
intermittent entrainment is associated with free intermittent li-
quid jet break up prior to impact and this break up is responsible
for intermittency.
4.2. Penetration depth
The penetration depth is dened as the lowest point of the
plume where the velocity of the bubble becomes zero and buoy-
ancy force is dominant. Any bubble attaining this point will change
its direction of travel and move upward in the water tank. Due to
the unsteady nature of the plume, a series of 2727 images were
necessary to obtain an accurate statistically meaningful position
in the average image. Using the image analysis procedure de-
scribed in the previous section, the penetration depth Hp as a func-
tion of impact velocity Vj and for three jet outlet velocities as a
parameter is plotted in Fig. 6.
Fig. 5. Flowmap regimes-entrainment regimes depending on jet falling length Lj
and impact velocity Vj.
55
1
Fig. 6. Penetration depth Hp for continuous entrainment as a function of jet impact
velocity Vj. Note: The penetration depth was obtained for Lj ranging from 2.5 cm to
25 cm.
The overall variation of the penetration depth is similar for two
nozzle exit velocity conditions (2 and 2.5 m/s). The penetration
depth decreases exponentially when Vj is increased, until it reaches
a constant penetration depth of about 14.5 cm and 13 cm for V0 of
2.5 and 2 m/s respectively. It can be seen that higher nozzle exit
velocity generates longer penetration depth. For V0 = 1.5 m/s the
trend is fundamentally different. A non-monotonous trend is ob-
served. This experimental result conrms previous observation
made by Danciu et al. [17]. As Danciu et al. [17] explained, this dif-
ference in behavior of the penetration depth for V0 = 1.5 m/s might
depend on the nature of jet surface instabilities which trigger gas
entrainment.
4.3. Initial impact process and air cavity features
The initial impact process of the jet evolving freely without any
additional imposed articial disturbances with the liquid pool sur-
face and the resulting multiphase ow topology are considered
next. Two sets of experiments were carried out to study this mech-
anism for two values of liquid jet exit velocities V0 of 1.5 and 2.5 m/
s and the same free jet falling height of 10 cm. According to the re-
gime map of Fig. 5, these two sets correspond to the continuous re-
gime. The free part of the jet was seen to exhibit a rough surface
that is conducive to this regime. Fig. 7 shows the time sequence
of a liquid jet initially striking a free surface when the nozzle exit
velocity is equal to 1.5 m/s and the jet falling height is 10 cm.
The camera started recording before jet strikes the free surface to
guarantee capturing the whole process of initial impact. It can be
observed from Fig. 7 that the penetrating jet drags a conical air
void underneath the water surface (see frame 2). The void grows
in size due to the transformation of the kinetic energy supplied
by the jet into potential energy and continues to deform in shape
as the water jet carries on penetrating (see frames 36). The bot-
tom lower part of the air cavity acquires gradually a cylindrical
shape with the liquid jet trapped inside it. After reaching a depth
of 6 cm below the free surface corresponding to a time of 50 ms,
the cavity stops developing and shows a necking and the rim of
its cylindrical part collapses at this neck (see frames 78) due to
a balance between the local hydrostatic pressure and the initial
outward velocity imparted to the cavity wall [14]. Consequently,
the bottom part evolves into a toroidal air bubble which continues
to move downward with a severed liquid jet inside (frame 9). At
59 ms, while the remaining cavity above the pinch-off point re-
tracts rapidly upwards towards the free surface (see frames 9
10). The toroidal air bubble collapses into a number of children
56 X. Qu et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 5161

(1) t=0 ms (2) t=6.67 ms (3) t=13.33 ms (4) t=20 ms

(5) t=40 ms (6) t=46.67 ms (7) t=49.33 ms (8) t=50 ms

(9) t=54 ms (10) t=58.67 ms (11) t=98.67 ms (12) t=620.67 ms

Fig. 7. Temporal and spacial process of initial impact by a plunging jet (V0 = 1.5 m/s, Lj = 10 cm).

bubbles of various sizes and shapes at 99 ms, subsequent to these whereby the jet will entrain continuous smaller bubbles under the
initial processes, the continuous entrainment regime is established water and the air cavity is not visible any longer while being
 X. Qu et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 5161 57

replaced by a relatively dense air bubble plume (see frames 11

12). Similarly also it was found that for a jet nozzle velocity of
2.5 m/s an identical process took place, the photographs are not
shown however. To conclude, the jet impact on the water surface
will initially entrap an air cavity, which grows, deforms, breaks
up, and eventually leads to a continuous entrainment process if
the right impact velocity prevails.
The time progression of the initial air cavity is of interest as it
can be compared with semi-analytical equations extracted from
the literature and in particular the depth h of the cavity at pinch-
off (i.e. when the cavity just breaks down in two parts), the diam-
eters of the initial top air cavity and its cylindrical bottom part. The
following empirical relations were derived by Zhu et al. [14]:

hc =Dj 1=4Dc =Dj 2=3 Fr1=3 2cFr1=4 2

(a) V0=1.5 m/s (b) V0=2.5 m/s

Dc =Dj 2cFr1=4 3
Fig. 9. Comparison of pinch-off height between (Lj = 10 cm).

Dh =Dj 2 21=2 =2  21=2 1=2 2:41 4

Table 1
Fr V 20 =gDj 5 Geometrical cavity parameters as dened in Fig. 8.

V0 (m/s) Fr Dj (cm) h (cm) Dc/Dj Dh/Dj

where Dj is the jet impinging diameter, Dc is the diameter of the
approximated hemisphere, Dh is the diameter of the hollow pro- 1.5 38.23 0.60 Meas. 3.52 Meas. 5.05 Meas. 2.30
Eq. (2) 4.06 Eq. (3) 4.48 Eq. (4) 2.41
duced by the jet, see Fig. 8, Fr is Froude number and c is a constant
2.5 106.18 0.60 Meas. 5.03 Meas. 6.00 Meas. 2.60
equal to 0.9. Eq. (2) 5.75 Eq. (3) 5.78 Eq. (4) 2.41
Fig. 9 shows clearly using snapshots that the cavity produced
with the jet exit velocity of V0 = 2.5 m/s is larger than the case of
V0 = 1.5 m/s and the former pinch-off height is longer than the lat-
Fig. 10 shows the depth of the cavity below the water surface as
ter. The measured and calculated diameter ratios and pinch-off
a function of dimensionless time until pinch-off for the two cases
height are compared in Table 1 with the empirical results of Eqs.
of Table 1. It can be seen that on average, the velocities of the cav-
(2)(4). It can be seen that Dh/Dj is comparable between the two
ity tips remain almost constant during the time interval where the
experimental cases, but lower than the empirically predicted val-
cavity is developing, consistent with the results of Soh et al. [13].
ues by about 6%. The measured ratios of Dc/Dj show higher values
Additionally, the two curves reveal that at the same jet falling
for a higher exit jet velocity and are found to be greater than the
height, a higher jet exit velocity will produce a longer cavity length
empirical values by approximately 10%. The measured values of
as mentioned above. By using the normalized distance of y/Dj and
the pinch-off height are smaller than corresponding empirical ones
normalized time of tV0/Dj, the two curves collapse, as observed by
and the maximum error is 13%, which is less than the maximum
Zhu et al. [14], which indicates that the initial cavity penetration
error of 18% found by Zhu et al. [14].
therefore depends on the jet impact velocity.
From the measurement of cavity depth versus time, one can cal-
culate the penetration velocity Vc of the cavity front by interpola-
tion and differentiation. The results of this exercise are shown in
Fig. 10 where the cavity depth was normalized by the jet diameter
while the cavity velocity was normalized by the jet impact velocity.

Fig. 10. Cavity depth developmentnormalized cavity front distance from the
Fig. 8. Denition of the geometric parameters of the underwater cavity. quiescent free surface against normalized time.
58 X. Qu et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 5161
Fig. 11. Normalized velocity of the cavity bottom Vc/Vj against normalized cavity
depth y/Dj.
Following Zhu et al. [14] one would expect that, here, the relevant
jet velocity would be the free fall velocity Vj = (V02 + 2gLj)1/2 during
the initial stage and V j V 2j 2gs1=2 later on. Both cases in Fig. 11
indicate a velocity ratio in agreement with the classic result of po-
tential ow theory that, in the absence of gravitational effects, the
bottom of the cavity produced by a steady jet advances at a veloc-
ity approximately equal to half the jet velocity [18]. Similar nd-
ings were also observed by Zhu et al. [14].
4.4. Velocity distributions
Velocity measurements were conducted for the case of no-
entrainment using PIV. The no-entrainment regime was chosen be-
cause it is amenable to easy optical access by the transmission and
reception optics of the PIV.
4.4.1. Instantaneous velocity
Experiments were conducted using two different ow condi-
tions (i) submerged jet and (ii) impinging jet illustrated in
Fig. 12a and b respectively. For the impinging jet, the position of
the jet inlet was placed at 2D above the free surface where D is
the nozzle inner diameter. In both conditions, the velocity distribu-
tions vary once the jet leaves the nozzle. However the fundamental
difference between these jets is the interaction of the jet with the
free surface. This difference is studied using planar velocity distri-
bution under the free surface
Fig. 13a and b shows contours of the instantaneous velocity vec-
tors for submerged and impinging jet, respectively in a vertical
(a) Submerged Jet
Fig. 12. Photography of jet ow at free interface, with nozzle inlet diameter (D) of 6 mm.
plane. The top boundary of both gures (y = 0 mm) represents
the free interface where the jet penetrates the liquid pool. The
jet is clearly identied with central high velocity core. Away from
the central region, the velocity is very small and directed upwards.
Both instantaneous velocity distributions reveal velocity uctua-
tions around the core jet where the velocity gradient reaches its
maximum. As shown in Fig. 13, the values of velocity uctuations
are higher for the case of the impinging jet. The increase of velocity
uctuations near the shear layers might be due to the presence of
instabilities at free surface which interacts and creates distur-
bances below the free surface and therefore produce more uctu-
ations and turbulence.
4.4.2. Mean velocity
The instantaneous velocity contours illustrated snapshots of the
temporal motion. The ensemble mean and RMS elds are consid-
ered next. The averaged axial velocity contour with its correspond-
ing streamlines in the (x, y) plane are presented in Fig. 14 for both
congurations: the submerged jet, Fig. 14a and impinging jet,
Fig. 14b. The magnitude of the velocity inside the core of sub-
merged jet reaches a maximum of 0.63 m/s at x = 0 and
0 < y < 10 mm corresponding to the penetration height of 1.6D be-
low the free surface. For the impinging jet the maximum velocity
appears with a higher velocity magnitude of 0.78 m/s at x = 0 and
0 < y < 12 mm corresponding to the penetration height of 2D. The
maximum velocities show 20% difference between the submerged
jet and the impinging jet. This difference is directly related to the
free jet falling length. Using the free fall velocity Vj and having
V0 = 0.63 m/s and Lj = 2D = 12 mm, the calculated velocity for the
impinging jet is Vj = 0.79 m/s which is comparable to the obtained
maximum velocity measured with PIV.
On each side of the core streamlines illustrate the process of
uid entrainment. The main difference between averaged 2D
velocity distributions is the spatial extent of the entrained region.
For the submerged jet (Fig. 14a) the entrained region starts 5 mm
below the free interface, however for the impinging jet (Fig. 14b)
particles are directly entrained at the free surface at y = 0 mm.
For the latter case it is clear that this entrainment ow would play
an important role in air entrainment when other regimes with air
entrainment are established.
The 2D distribution of RMS of the axial velocity are shown in
Fig. 15a and b. For both submerged and impinging jet the value
of RMS increases when the jet travels deeper inside the water.
The value of RMS is higher for the impinging jet which is explained
by a higher degree of turbulence intensity due to the impact of the
jet at the free surface and the free jet turbulence content and jet
surface instability when it exists.
(b) Impinging jet
 X. Qu et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 5161 59

(a) submerged jet (b) impinging jet (Lj /D=2)

Fig. 13. 2D instantaneous axial velocity distribution with its corresponding magnitude.

(a) submerged jet (b) impinging jet (Lj /D=2)

Fig. 14. Streamlines and magnitude of mean axial velocity distribution.

Radial proles of the axial velocity distribution and its corre-
sponding RMS at three different positions below the free interface
are presented in Fig. 16a and b. For both submerged and impinging
jet, the symmetric velocity proles show diffusion accompanied by
a decrease of the maximum value as the jet travels deeper inside
the column of water. The RMS proles show two distinct picks
(at 2 and 2 mm) corresponding to the shear layers. The shape
of velocity prole and its corresponding RMS prole changes with
(h/D). Both velocity and RMS proles become atter when h/D in-
creases because of turbulence diffusion.
For the impinging jet, the measured mean axial velocity prole
is compared with semi-analytical solution of Chanson [19].
m=V j 5:745=h=Dj 1 0:12518:5x=h2 1 6 impinging jet shows similar behavior. The core length is dened
where Vj is the velocity at impact Vj = 0.78 m/s, h is the position
where the velocity prole is measured, x is the radial position and
Dj the jet diameter.
Fig. 17 shows the comparison between the theoretical predic-
tion of the velocity prole in radial direction with the experimental
results obtained from three different heights below the free inter-
face. The theoretical curve is plotted for h/Dj = -3.3 (corresponding
to h/D = 3). As shown Fig. 17 the experimental measurements of
velocity prole matches with Eq. (6) within a region between
(1 < x/x1/2 < 1), with x = x1/2, representing the radial position
where the velocity is V0/2 but the agreement deteriorates beyond
this region. This is expected since, Eq. (6) is truly applicable within
a region far from the free interface where the ow is fully devel-
oped (h/D > 5) [13].
Finally, the centerline mean velocity along jet axis is presented
in Fig. 18. The centerline velocity prole for both submerged and
by the region where the non-dimensional velocity v/Vj is above
the threshold value of 0.98 corresponding to a velocity deviation
of less than 2% from the impact velocity Vj. As shown in Fig. 18,
the extent of the core length of the submerged jet is y/D = 2.7 (y/
60 X. Qu et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 5161

(a) submerged jet (b) impinging jet (Lj/D=2)

Fig. 15. Streamlines and magnitude of RMS of mean axial velocity distribution.

(a) Axial velocity profile for submerged jet at different height

Fig. 17. The non-dimensional velocity prole - comparison between theoretical
prediction and experimental results.

(b) Axial velocity profile for impinging jet at different height

Fig. 16. The radial proles of axial velocity and its corresponding RMS for three Fig. 18. Jet centerline mean axial velocity decay with non-dimensional axial
different height. position.
 X. Qu et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44 (2013) 5161
Dj = 3). The core length of the impinging jet is smaller than the sub-
merged jet. The velocity decreases rapidly and reaches the thresh-
old value at y/D = 1.5 (y/Dj = 1.66). As expected the submerged jet
has a longer inviscid core than the plunging jet. The length of low
turbulence potential core region for submerged turbulent jet is
known to be around 4Dj to 5Dj [20]. The core therefore erodes more
rapidly for the plunging jet because of the turbulence that is gen-
erated in the shear layer. The generation of turbulence could be ex-
plained by the combination of two phenomena: rst the maximum
velocity at interface which is 20% higher for the impinging jet and
second the impinging jet generates instabilities at the free surface
which interact and create disturbances below the free surface and
hence produce more uctuations in velocity and turbulence (as
discussed in previous sections Fig. 13).
5. Conclusions
An experimental study was conducted to characterize a liquid
impinging jet on a pool and the resulting entrainment process
using a variety of non-invasive ow visualization techniques and
image analysis. The experimental results obtained are in full agree-
ment with previously published work, although the range consid-
ered is wider with some overlap. The penetration depth of the
plume for the continuous entrainment depends strongly on the
jet exit velocity and decreases when the jet impact velocity
increases.
The 2D velocity distribution and instantaneous ow dynamics
behavior of a submerged and an impinging jet for the no-entrain-
ment regime below the interface were obtained using PIV. These
results would be very useful for testing CFD models. The PIV results
shows that the main difference between mean 2D velocity distri-
butions is the spatial extent of the entrained region. For the sub-
merged jet the entrained region starts 5 mm below the free
interface, however for the impinging jet, uid particles are directly
entrained at the free surface. For the latter case it is clear that this
entrainment ow would play an important role in entraining and
engulng air when other regimes are established from incipient
to continuous entrainment.
The initial impact process and air cavity features are also char-
acterized. The time progression of the initial air cavity is investi-
gated. Existing empirical equations for the predictions of the
geometrical and dynamic features of the initial air cavity are in
agreement with the present experimental results for a freely evolv-
ing jet not subjected to any articial disturbances. Future studies
61
will be focused on the inuence of control parameters such as jet
falling length, the jet velocity and the nature of the uid on the
structure of the jet, its penetration, entrainment and air bubble
velocities below the interface.
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