Experimental study of low precessing frequencies in the wake of a turbulent annular jet

This paper investigates the flow structure in the wake behind the centrebody of an annular jet using time-resolved stereoscopic PIV measurements. Although the time-averaged flow field is symmetric, the instantaneous wake is asymmetric. It consists of a central toroidal vortex (CTV), which closes downstream at the stagnation point. This stagnation point lies off-axis and hence the axis of the CTV is tilted with respect to the central axis of the geometry. The CTV precesses around the central axis, corresponding to a Strouhal number of 2.5 x 10(-3). The phase averaging technique is used to study this large-scale motion as it can separate the precession from the turbulence in the flow field. It is found that the precession creates a highly three-dimensional flow field and for instance near the stagnation point, up to 45% of the rms velocity fluctuations are attributed to it.