Study on Side-Jet Injection Near a Duct Entry With Various Injection Angles

Turbulent flowfields resulting from an oblique jet injecting from a rectangular side-inlet duct into a rectangular main duct with an aspect ratio 3.75 without a forced crossflow are presented in terms of laser-Doppler velocimetry measurements. The main focuses are the effects of the side-jet angle (θ) and side-jet flow rate (Q_s) on the mass entrainment upstream of side-jet port and the flowfield in the rectangular duct. The side-inlet angles investigated were 30, 45, and 60 deg and Reynolds numbers based on the air density, rectangular duct height and bulk mean velocity were in the range of 7.1 × 10³ to 3.6 × 10⁴ corresponding to Q_s values of 1 × 10³ to 5 × 10³ L/min. The present study suggests the presence of a critical side-injection angle θ_c (30 ≤ θ_c ≤ 45 deg) above which a recirculation zone appears in the rectangular duct, whereas below which the recirculation zone is absent. For the more tangential angle (θ = 30 deg), almost as much fluid is entrained into the main duct as was injected from the side jet. The mean flow field in the rectangular duct is found to be a weak function of the Reynolds-number for the range of Q_s investigated. In addition, a simple linear correlation between the mass entrainment upstream of the side-jet port and side-injection angle is obtained. Complementary flow visualizations and numerical computations with an algebraic Reynolds stress model were also performed. The discrepancies between measured and computed results are documented.