PIV measurement of turbulent mixing layer

In present paper a turbulent mixing layer with the velocity ratio 4:1 which was produced by a special designed splitter plated placed in a vertical rectangular channel was experimentally investigated by PIV. The Reynolds number based on the velocity difference of two steams and hydraulic diameter of the channel ranges from 4400-158400. It is found that the scale of coherent vortex structure increases with increasing the Reynolds number and then decreases with continuously increasing the Reynolds number. The injected bubble will delay or hinder the evolution of the coherent structures. Afterwards the statistical and instantaneous distributions of Reynolds stress, turbulent intensity, vorticity and swirling strength are obtained. The results show that all these turbulent parameters exist only in a very narrow conical region in the downstream of the mixing layer. The Reynolds stress and turbulent intensity first increase and then decrease with increasing the Reynolds number and decrease with the evolution of mixing layer, while vorticity and swirling strength increase with increasing the Reynolds number and decrease with the evolution of mixing layer.