Large-scale structures of scalar and velocity in a turbulent jet flow

Abstract

We study the relation between large-scale structures in the concentration field with those in the velocity field in a dye-seeded turbulent jet. The scalar concentration in a plane is measured using laser-induced fluorescence. Uniform concentration zones of an advected scalar are identified using cluster analysis. We simultaneously measure the two-dimensional velocity field using particle image velocimetry. The structures in the velocity field are characterized by finite-time Lyapunov exponents. The measurement of the scalarand velocity fields moves with the mean flow. In this moving frame, turbulent structures remain in focus long enough to observe well-defined ridges of the finite-time Lyapunov field. This field gauges the rate of point separation along Lagrangian trajectories; it was measured both for future and past times since the instant of observation. The edges of uniform concentration zones are correlated with the ridges of the past-time Lyapunov field, but not with those of the future-time Lyapunov field.