An experiment studying a fluidically oscillated rectangular jet flow was conducted. The Mach number was varied over a range from low subsonic... Show moreAn experiment studying a fluidically oscillated rectangular jet flow was conducted. The Mach number was varied over a range from low subsonic to supersonic. Unsteady velocity and pressure measurements were made using hot wires, piezoresistive pressure transducers, and pitot probes. In addition, smoke flow visualization using high-speed photography was used to document the oscillation of the jet. For the subsonic flip-flop jet, it was found that the apparent time-mean widening of the jet was not accompanied by an increase in the mass flux. Fluidically oscillated jets up to a Mach number of about 0.5 have been reported before, but to our knowledge there is no information on fluidically oscillated supersonic jets. It was found that it is possible to extend the operation of these devices to supersonic flows. The streamwise velocity perturbation levels produced by this device were much higher than the perturbation levels that could be produced using conventional excitation sources such as acoustic drivers. In view of this ability to produce high amplitudes, the potential for using a small-scale fluidically oscillated jet as an unsteady excitation source for the control of shear flows in full-scale practical applications seems promising. Show less
A modal spectrum technique was used to study coherent instability modes (both axisymmetric and azimuthal) triggered by naturally occurring... Show moreA modal spectrum technique was used to study coherent instability modes (both axisymmetric and azimuthal) triggered by naturally occurring disturbances in a circular jet. This technique was applied to a high Reynolds number (400,000) jet for both untripped (transitional) and tripped (turbulent) nozzle exit boundary layers, with both cases having a core turbulence level of 0.15%. The region up to the end of the potential core was dominated by the axisymmetric mode, with the azimuthal modes dominating further downstream. The growth of the azimuthal modes was observed closer to the nozzle exit for the jet with a transitional boundary layer. Whether for locally parallel flow or slowly diverging flow, even at low levels of acoustic forcing, the inviscid linear theory is seen to be inadequate for predicting the amplitude of the forced mode. In contrast, the energy integral approach reasonably predicts the evolution of the forced mode. Show less
