Experimental Study on Propagation of Particle-Bearing Jets in a Confined Geometry

The spreading characteristics of particle-bearing jets down a gentle slope in a uniform ambient with confined side-walls are reported through a series of laboratory experiments. A round water jet is mixed with solid particles having particle volume fraction ranging between 0% and 0.4%. The jet Reynolds number is varied between Re = 3000 and 8000. We document that the jet front position varies with time t as xf∝t2/3. The jet front propagation in the presence of side-walls is found to be higher than the unconfined case and is attributed to the recirculation due to the confinement that increases the flow inertia and accelerates the flow. The jet propagation is found to be self-similar and is unaffected by the variations in the volume fraction and Re. The sediment pattern near the source, formed by the settling of the particles, exhibits a similar tear-drop shape, which is well-predicted using the unconfined jet theory that assumes a Gaussian velocity profile. The results have implication in engineering and environmental flows, where higher jet propagation rate for confined jets should be modeled accurately without modifying the sedimentation dynamics.