Topology analysis and URANS-predicted flow field features of multiple strongly impinging jets-in-crossflow in a cylindrical duct

Abstract: The flow field studied was eight strongly impinging, radially injected jets, into a non-swirling mainstream flow in a cylindrical duct. Our previous paper (Heat Mass Transf. (2020) 56:2285-2302), showed that asymmetry in the solution is very likely to be an indication of the flow unsteadiness. Also, if the flow is asymmetric, even a time dependent flow solver would not represent the flow correctly if the computational domain is less than the complete cylindrical duct. Thus, the current numerical and topological study was conducted in a 360 degree (complete cylindrical duct) computational domain using a time dependent Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes URANS code. Results of this study confirm that the flow of strongly impinging jets is unsteady and asymmetric after the establishment of a regular flow pattern. The asymmetry appears to be cyclic at a frequency of < 2 Hz. Also, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results agree with the rules of topological analysis from applied mathematics.