Numerical Simulation of Start-Up Jets in a Mixing Chamber

Numerical simulations of the transient flow of helium injected into an established background flow of nitrogen were carried out to identify the dominant features of the transient mixing process between these two dissimilar gases. The geometry of interest is composed of two helium slots on either side of a central nitrogen channel feeding into a rectangular mixing chamber that was experimentally designed to give “two-dimensional” flow. Simulations were accomplished on both two- and three-dimensional grids. The 3D solutions employ an unsteady DES approach, while the 2D results are based upon a reduced dimension, “DES-like” method. Results are compared with quantitative experimental measurements of species distributions both in terms of contour plots and local point measurements. The 2D solutions give a reasonable qualitative picture of the transient mixing process in the center of the chamber while also providing quantitative estimates of representative characteristic times for guiding the 3D calculations. The 3D solutions give a reasonable approximation to span-wise variations observed in the experiment.