Tony Burdens Lecture Notes on Turbulence, Spring 2008

3c Plane jet
Compared to the general analysis of a thin shear layer, the freestream velocity U

= 0,
and the freestream pressure is constant, so,
U
0
U and
dP

dx
= 0.
Constant momentum ux
Within the free-shear-layer approximation, i.e. ten to twenty nozzle diamters down-
stream, a control-volume analysis or the thin-shear-layer equation itself shows that the
total momentum ux,
_

U
2
dy = constant.
The mathematical problem
The thin-shear-layer equation,
U
U
x
+ V
U
y
=

y
u

,
together with the continuity condition,
U
x
+
V
y
= 0,
under the freestream condition,
U(x, y) 0 when y ,
and assuming symmetry,
U
y
(x, 0) = 0 and V (x, 0) = 0,
on the centreline.
30
Self-similar proles
U(x, y) = U
c
(x) F

() ,
and,
u

= U
2
c
g () ,
where,
U
c
(x) = U(x, 0),
is the centreline velocity and,
=
y
(x)
.
The choice of F

rather than f in the prole for the streamwise velocity is related to

the streamfunction formalism and the continuity condition. See the Appendix.
The lengthscale can be chosen to be the halfwidth, =
1/2
(x) dened by,
U(x,
1/2
) =
1
2
U
c
(x) =
1
2
U(x, 0) .
Preservation of self-similarity requires u
T
U
c
. In fact, measurements show that,

[u

(x, 0)]
2
_
1/2
U
c
= 0.24 0.01 for x 40D.
Constant ux of momentum implies that,
U
2
c
= constant,
i.e. independent of x.
Following the details in the appendix, the thin-shear-layer equation becomes,
U
c
U

c
F

(U
c
)

U
c

FF

=
U
2
c

,
which can be rewritten in the form,
U

U
c
F

(U
c
)

U
c
FF

+ g

= 0.
Separation of variables requires now,
U

U
c
= constant and
(U
c
)

U
c
= constant,
so that,

= constant,
and,
x while U
c

1/2
x
1/2
.
These results agree well with measurements for x 20D.
31
The self-similar prole of U/U
c
as a function of is now determined by,
1
2

_
F

2
+ FF

_
= g

,
once g() has been modelled as a function of F

. (Note that this is an o.d.e. for F()

since we have already determined that

is a constant.)
The eddy-viscosity model
u

=
T
U
y
g() =

T
U
c

().
Self-similarity requires that,

T
(x, )
U
c
(x) (x)
is independent of x.
Uniform eddy-viscosity
Assume that
T
is also independent of so that,
U
c

T
= R
T
is a constant (without being a true physical Reynolds number).
The resulting mathematical problem for the prole F

() is,
F

+ 2
2
_
F

2
+ FF

_
= 0,
where =
1
2
(

R
T
)
1/2
is a constant and the boundary conditions are,
F

(0) = 1 and F

(0) = 0.
The solution is,
F

() = sech
2
().
The choice =
1/2
requires F

() =
1
2
which implies that = ln(1 +

2). This prole

agrees well with measured proles except at the edges of the jet where entrainment and
intermittency are important.
The measured value of the spreading rate,

1/2
= 0.10, implies now that,

T
= 0.032 U
c

1/2
0.07 u
T

1/2
,
using u
2
T
= |u

| 0.20 U
2
c
.
32
The eddy-viscosity model, cont.
Mixing-length model

T
= l
2
m

U
y

=
l
2
m
U
c

|F

()| .
Self-similarity requires that,
l
2
m

2
|F

()|
is independent of x so that l
m
(x). It does not seem to be possible to solve the
equation for the prole F

() and there do not appear to be any comparisons with

measurements.
Literature (3c)
Recommended course reading
pp 547549 in sec 13.10, Wall-free shear ow, in Kundu & Cohen (2002).
Sec. 5.4.1, The plane jet, in Turbulent Flows by S.B. Pope, Cambridge (2000).
Other references
Coherent structures in the turbulent planar jet. Part 1, S.V. Gordeyev & F.O. Thom-
as, J. Fluid Mech. 414, 145194 (2000).
The planar turbulent jet, E. Gutmark & I. Wyganski, J. Fluid Mech. 73, 465495
(1976).
Turbulent jets and plumes, E.J. List, Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 14, 189212 (1982).
sec. 5.3, Jets, in An Introduction to Turbulent Flow by Mathieu & Scott (2000).
33
Tony Burdens Lecture Notes on Turbulence, Spring 2008
3d Plane shear layer
Compared to the general analysis of a thin shear layer, there are two freestream veloci-
ties, U
high
and U
low
. The two velocity scales in the general analysis are,
U
0

1
2
(U
high
+ U
low
) and U U
high
U
low
.
The relatively simple analysis carried out below neglects the divergence of the stream-
lines in the free streams. This analysis becomes exact in the limit U U
0
since the so
called temporal mixing layer is symmetric. In the so called spatial mixing layer, when
U U
0
, the angle between the streamlines in the free streams is of the order of
1
2

.
The mathematical problem
The thin-shear-layer equation,
U
U
x
+ V
U
y
=

y
u

,
together with the continuity condition,
U
x
+
V
y
= 0,
under the two freestream conditions,
U(x, y) U
high
when y +,
and,
U(x, y) U
low
when y ,
where both U
high
and U
low
are independent of x.
Self-similar proles
Dene two velocity scales,
U
c
=
1
2
(U
high
+ U
low
) and U
s
= U
high
U
low
,
and the self-similar velocity prole,
U(x, y) = U
c
+ U
s
F

() with =
y
(x)
.
34
The choice of F

rather than f in the prole for the streamwise velocity is related to

the streamfunction formalism and the continuity condition.
The general order-of-magnitude analysis leading to the thin-shear-layer equations
indicates that,
u
2
T


L
U
0
U,
so we write,
u

= U
c
U
s
g () .
Mathematically, the expression u

= U
2
s
g () leads to the same results.
Following the details for the plane jet in the appendix, the LHS of the thin-shear-layer
equation becomes,
U
U
x
+ V
U
y
= U
c
U
x
+ U
s
U
x
+ V
U
y
=
U
c
U
s

U
2
s

FF

.
The thin-shear-layer equation is now,

U
c
U
s

U
2
s

FF

=
U
c
U
s

,
which can be rewritten in the form,

_
F

+
U
s
U
c
FF

_
= g

.
Separation of variables requires,

= constant, so that x.
Comparisons with measurements are carried out using velocity levels dened by,
U(x, y

) = U
low
+ (U
high
U
low
) = U
c
+ (
1
2
)U
s
,
(with 0 1). All the y

are found to grow linearly with x.

There is no classical pen-and-paper solution for the prole of the velocity in the
problem analyzed above, the so called spatial mixing layer.
The self-similar prole when U
s
U
c
This limit is called the temporal mixing layer since the thin-shear-layer equation takes
the form,
dU
dt
= U
c
dU
dx
=
d
dy
u

,
35
The self-similar prole of (U U
c
)/U
s
as a function of is now determined by,

= g

,
once g() has been modelled as a function of F

().
The eddy-viscosity model
u

=
T
U
y
g() =

T
U
c

().
Self-similarity requires that,

T
(x, )
U
c
(x)
is independent of x.
Uniform eddy-viscosity
Assume that
T
is also independent of so that,
U
c

T
= R
T
is a constant. The resulting mathematical problem for the prole F

() is,
F

+ AF

= 0,
where A = R
T

is a constant and the boundary conditions are,

F

()
1
2
when .
The solution to the dierential equation is,
F

() = F

(0) + F

(0)
_

0
exp
_

1
2
A

2
_
d

.
The solution is now symmetric, so F

(0) = 0, while the boundary conditions require

F

(0) =
_
A/2. In order to be able to use mathematical tables for the integral we
write the prole in the form,
F

() =
1
2
erf
_
_
1
2
A
_
,
where erf(x) is the standard error function.
The choice = y
0.9
y
0.1
requires
1
2
_
1
2
A = 0.906 and A = 6.6. This prole agrees
well with measured proles except at the edges of the shear layer where entrainment
and intermittency are important.
36
The eddy-viscosity model, cont.
Mixing-length model

T
= l
2
m

U
y

=
l
2
m
U
s

|F

()| .
Self-similarity requires that,
U
s
U
c
l
2
m

2
|F

()|
is independent of x so that l
m
(x). The assumption that l
m
is independent of leads
to clearly unphysical velocity proles (except for 1).
Recommended course reading
Sec. 5.4.2, The plane mixing layer, in Turbulent Flows by S.B. Pope, Cambridge
(2000).
37
Appendix
Details in the analysis of the plane jet.
The self-similar expression for the mean streamwise velocity,
U(x, y) = U
c
(x) F

() = U
c
(x) F

_
y
(x)
_
,
corresponds to a streamfunction,
(x, y) = U
c
(x) (x) F(),
for the mean velocity vector. The expression for U(x, y) yields,
U
x
= U

c
F

() U
c

2
F

() = U

c
F

() U
c

(),
and,
U
y
=
U
c

().
The continuity condition, together with V (x, 0) = 0 on the centreline, yields,
V =
_
y
0
V
y
dy =
_
y
0
U
x
dy
=
_

0
_
U
c

() U

c
F

()
_
d
= U
c

_

0
F

() d U

_

0
F

() d
= U
c

() (U
c
)

_
F() F(0)
_
.
Since y = 0 is a streamline we can choose (x, 0) = 0 so that F(0) = 0. Now,
U
U
x
+ V
U
y
= U
c
F

_
U

c
F

U
c

_
+
_
U
c

(U
c
)

F()
_
U
c

= U
c
U

c
F

2
+ 0
(U
c
)

U
c

FF

.
The Reynolds-stress term in the thin-shear-layer equation is,
u

= U
2
c
g ()

y
u

=
U
2
c

.
38