Bj. Boersma et al., A NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION ON THE EFFECT OF THE INFLOW CONDITIONS ON THE SELF-SIMILAR REGION OF A ROUND JET, Physics of fluids, 10(4), 1998, pp. 899-909
In this paper we consider the direct numerical simulation (DNS) of a s
patially developing free round jet at low Reynolds numbers. Simulation
of a spatially evolving flow such as the jet requires boundary condit
ions, which allow entrainment into the turbulent flow across the later
al boundaries of the computational domain. The boundary conditions whi
ch satisfy this requirement are so-called traction free boundary condi
tions. After showing that these boundary conditions lead to a correct
behavior of the velocity near the lateral boundary of the jet, we will
consider the DNS of the jet flow at a Reynolds number of 2.4 x 10(3)
and compare the results with experimental data obtained by Hussein et
al. [J. Fluid Mech. 258, 31 (1994)] and by Panchapakesan and Lumley [J
. Fluid Mech. 246, 197 (1993)]. The results of our numerical simulatio
ns agree very well with the experimental data. Next we use the DNS to
investigate the influence of the shape of the velocity profile at the
jet orifice on the self-similarity scaling for the far-field velocity
and shear stress profile. Evidence is presented in support of the sugg
estion by George [Advances in Turbulence (Springer, New York, 1989)] t
hat the details of self-similarity depend on the initial conditions. T
his fact implies that there may exist no universally valid similarity
scaling for the free jet. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.