The first measurement of the influence of Stokes number on the distributions of particle concentration and velocity at the exit of a long pipe are reported, together with the subsequent influence on the downstream evolution of these distributions through a particle-laden jet in co-flow. The data were obtained by simultaneous particle image velocimetry and planar nephelometry using four cameras to provide high resolution through the first 30 jet diameters and also correction for optical attenuation. These data provide much more detailed information than is available from previous measurements. From them, new understanding is obtained of how the Stokes number influences the flow at the jet exit plane and how this influence propagates throughout the jet.

Simultaneous measurements of particle velocity and concentration (number density) in a series of mono-disperse, two-phase turbulent jets issuing from a long, round pipe into a low velocity co-flow were performed using planar nephelometry and digital particle image velocimetry. The exit Stokes number,$Sk_{D}$, was systematically varied over two orders of magnitude between 0.3 and 22.4, while the Reynolds number was maintained in the turbulent regime ($10\,000\leqslant Re_{D}\leqslant 40\,000$). The mass loading was fixed at$\unicode[STIX]{x1D719}=0.4$, resulting in a flow that is in the two-way coupling regime. The results show that, in contrast to all previous work where a single Stokes number has been used to characterise fluid–particle interactions, the characteristic Stokes number in the axial direction is lower than that for the radial direction. This is attributed to the significantly greater length scales in the axial motions than in the radial ones. It further leads to a preferential response of particles to gas-phase axial velocity fluctuations,$u_{p}^{\prime }$, over radial velocity fluctuations,$v_{p}^{\prime }$. This, in turn, leads to high levels of anisotropy in the particle-phase velocity fluctuations,$u_{p}^{\prime }/v_{p}^{\prime }>1$, throughout the jet, with$u_{p}^{\prime }/v_{p}^{\prime }$increasing as$Sk_{D}$is increased. The results also show that the region within the first few diameters of the exit plane is characterised by a process of particle reorganisation, resulting in significant particle migration to the jet axis for$Sk_{D}\leqslant 2.8$and away from the axis for$Sk_{D}\geqslant 5.6$. This migration, together with particle deceleration along the axis, causes local humps in the centreline concentration whose value can even exceed those at the exit plane.

We present a systematic experimental study of the interaction between four rotationally symmetric jets within a cylindrical chamber, under conditions relevant to a wide range of engineering applications, including the technology of a Hybrid Solar Receiver Combustor (HSRC). The HSRC geometry is simplified here to a cylindrical cavity with four inlet jets (representing four burners) which are configured in an annular arrangement and aligned at an inclination angle to the axis with a tangential component (azimuthal angle) to generate a swirl in the chamber. In this study, the jet inclination angle (αj) was varied over the range of 25°–45°, while the jet azimuthal angle (θj) was varied from 5° to 15°. The inlet Reynolds number for each injected jet and the number of jets were fixed at ReD = 10 500 and 4, respectively. Measurements obtained with Particle Image Velocimetry were used to characterise the large-scale flow field within selected configurations. The results reveal a significant dependence of the mean and root-mean-square flow-fields on the jet azimuthal angle (θj) and the jet inclination angle (αj). Three different flow regimes with distinctive flow characteristics were identified within the configurations investigated here. It was also found that θj can significantly influence (a) the position and strength of an external recirculation zone and a central recirculation zone, (b) the extent of turbulence fluctuation, and (c) the flow unsteadiness. Importantly, the effect of αj on the flow characteristics was found to depend strongly on the value of θj.

The three-dimensional structure of incompressible flow in a narrow, open rectangular cavity in a flat plate was investigated with a focus on the flow topology of the time-averaged flow. The ratio of cavity length (in the direction of the flow) to width to depth was l:w:d = 6:2:1. Experimental surface pressure data (in air) and particle image velocimetry data (in water) were obtained at low speed with free-stream Reynolds numbers of Re l = 3.4×10 5 in air and Re l = 4.3×10 4 in water. The experimental results show that the three-dimensional cavity flow is of the 'open' type, with an overall flow structure that bears some similarity to the structure observed in nominally twodimensional cavities, but with a high degree of three-dimensionality both in the flow near the walls and in the unsteady behaviour. The defining features of an open-type cavity flow include a shear layer that traverses the entire cavity opening ultimately impinging on the back surface of the cavity, and a large recirculation zone within the cavity itself. Other flow features that have been identified in the current study include two vortices at the back of the cavity, of which one is barely visible, a weak vortex at the front of the cavity, and a pair of counter-rotating streamwise vortices along the sides of the cavity near the cavity opening. These vortices are generally symmetric about the cavity centre-plane. However, the discovery of a single tornado vortex, located near the cavity centreline at the front of the cavity, indicated that the flow within the cavity is asymmetric. It is postulated that the observed asymmetry in the time-averaged flow field is due to the asymmetry in the instantaneous flow field, which switches between two extremes at large time scales.

We present a joint experimental and numerical study of the flow structure within a cylindrical chamber generated by planar-symmetric isothermal jets, under conditions of relevance to a wide range of practical applications, including the Hybrid Solar Receiver Combustor (HSRC) technology. The HSRC features a cavity with a coverable aperture to allow it to be operated as either a combustion chamber or a solar receiver, with multiple burners to direct a flame into the chamber and a heat exchanger that absorbs the heat from both energy sources. In this study, we assess the cases of two or four inlet jets (simulating the burners), configured in a planar-symmetric arrangement and aligned at an angle to the axis (αj) over the range of 0°–90°, at a constant inlet Reynolds number of ReD = 10 500. The jets were positioned in the same axial plane near the throat and interact with each other and the cavity walls. Measurements obtained with particle image velocimetry were used together with numerical modeling employing Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes methods to characterize the large-scale flow field within selected configurations of the device. The results reveal a significant dependence of the mean flow-field on αj and the number of inlet jets (Nj). Four different flow regimes with key distinctive features were identified within the range of αj and Nj considered here. It was also found that αj has a controlling influence on the extent of back-flow through the throat, the turbulence intensity, the flow stability, and the dominant recirculation zone, while Nj has a secondary influence on the turbulence intensity, the flow stability, and the transition between each flow regime.

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Insights from a new method providing single-shot, planar measurement of gas-phase temperature in particle-laden flows under high-flux radiation

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