Modified flapping jet for increased jet spreading using synthetic jets

Highlights: → The interactions of a rectangular turbulent jet and a pair of co-flowing synthetic jets are examined. → One-sided actuation achieves jet vectoring while simultaneous actuations induce jet spreading. → Further spreading is achieved when the synthetic jets are alternately actuated. → The jet flapping improves mixing. → Optimal forcing conditions for jet spreading are discussed. - Abstract: The present paper is an experimental investigation, using a PIV system, on modified rectangular jet flow co-flowing with a pair of synthetic jets placed symmetrically with respect to the geometric centerline of the main flow. The objective was to determine the optimal forcing conditions that would result in jet spreading beyond what would be obtained in a simple flapped jet. The main jet had an exit Reh = 36,000, based on the slot height, h. The synthetic jets were operated in a periodic manner with a periodic momentum coefficient of about 3.3% and at a frequency of the main jet preferred mode. A short, wide angle diffuser of half angle of about 45o was attached to the main jet. Generally for the vectored jet, much of the flow features found here resembled those reported in the literature except that the deflection angle in this study increased with downstream distances inside the diffuser and then remained roughly unchanged thereafter. Larger jet spreading was achieved when the main jet was subjected to simultaneous actuation of the synthetic jets but the flow did not achieve the initial jet spreading that was observed in the vectored jet. Further jet spreading was achieved when the synthetic jets were alternately actuated in which each synthetic jet was actuated for a number of cycles before switching. This technique allowed the jet to flap across the flow between transverse positions larger than what would be obtained in a simple flip-flop jet. Under the present flow geometry and Reynolds number, it was found that when the ratio fs/fal, where fs is the synthetic actuation frequency and fal is the alternating frequency, was larger than 10, the mean streamwise velocity of the main jet had two peaks symmetrically placed with respect to the jet axis and the jet had the appearance of flowing into two streams each moving nearly parallel to the diffuser wall. For a value of fs/fal of about 10, the optimal value in this study, the desired flow properties were achieved in that, the mean velocity was nearly uniform with an increase in the jet width compared to the simultaneous actuations, and the jet flapping was more effective in redistributing and homogenizing the turbulent kinetic energy across the main jet.