An entrainment model for the turbulent jet in a coflow

Abstract

The entrainment hypothesis was introduced by G.I. Taylor to describe one-dimensionally the development of turbulent jets issuing into a stagnant or coflowing environment. It relates the mass flow rate of surrounding fluid entrained into the jet to the characteristic velocity difference between the jet and the coflow. A model based on this hypothesis along with axial velocity assumed to follow a realistic Gaussian distribution is presented. It possesses an implicit analytical solution, and its results are compared and shown to be fully equivalent to previously published models that are rather based on a spreading hypothesis. All of them are found to be in agreement with experimental results, on a wide range of downstream positions and for various coflow intensities.