Plunging jets from orifices of different geometry

Abstract

Plunging jets are used in many industrial and civil applications, as for example in sewage and water treatment plants, in order to enhance aeration and mass transfer of volatile gases. They are also observed in natural processes as rivers self-purification, waterfalls and weirs.

Many investigations dealt with the plunging jets in different configurations, but the dependence on Reynolds number and jet geometry were still not sufficiently addressed. For example, Mishra et al. (2020) studied an oblique submerged water impinging jet at different nozzle-to-plate distances and impingement angles, but only at a rather small Reynolds numbers (2600). On the other hand, different jet geometries have been extensively considered, but not for the plunging jet configuration (Mi, 2000; Hashiehbaf &Romano, 2013).

In this work, plunging water jets issuing in air from orifices of different shape are considered. The aim of the work is to detail and compare jet behaviors in terms of velocity fields generated after impacting the air-water interface, as a function of Reynolds number and orifice geometry. However, air bubbles entrainment is mainly avoided in order to study the jet characteristics in a simpler case and use it as a reference starting point for future works.