Secondary peak in the Nusselt number distribution of impinging jet flows: A phenomenological analysis

Abstract

This paper focuses on a wall-resolved Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of an isothermal round submerged air jet impinging on a heated flat plate, at a Reynolds number of 23 000 (based on the nozzle diameter and the bulk velocity at the nozzle outlet) and for a nozzle to plate distance of two jet diameters. This specific configuration is known to lead to a non-monotonic variation of the temporal-mean Nusselt number as a function of the jet center distance, with the presence of two distinct peaks located on the jet axis and close to two nozzle diameters from the jet axis. The objectives are here twofold: first, validate the LES results against experimental data available in the literature and second to explore this validated numerical database by the use of high order statistics such as skewness and probability density functions of the temporal distribution of temperature and pressure to identify flow features at the origin of the second Nusselt peak. Skewness (Sk) of the pressure temporal distribution reveals the rebound of the primary vortices located near the location of the secondary peak and allows to identify the initiation of the unsteady separation linked to the local minimum in the mean heat transfer distribution. In the region of mean heat transfer enhancement, joint velocity-temperature analyses highlight that the most probable event is a cold fluid flux towards the plate produced by the passage of the vortical structures. In parallel, heat transfer distributions, analyzed using similar statistical tools, allow to connect the above mentioned events to the heat transfer on the plate. Thanks to such advanced analyses, the origin of the double peak is confirmed and connected to the flow dynamics.