Results in Engineering 3 (2019) 100023

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Results in Engineering
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Topological variations in the optimal vortex due to the interaction of two

concentric synthetic jets
Ines Palomo, Jose M. Perez, Soledad Le Clainche *
E.T.S.I. Aaeron
autica y del Espacio, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Pza. Cardenal Cisneros, E-28040, Madrid, Spain

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Synthetic jets are devices that periodically generate a vortex producing thrust, which is similar to the vortex
Synthetic jet driving the swimming motion of some marine animals (i.e.: jellyfish, squids, …). The optimal working conditions
Optimal vortex of these devices lead to the artificial generation of a vortex that maximizes thrust and efficiency, known as the
Concentric jets
optimal vortex. This article shows the topological variations of the optimal vortex produced by the periodic
Flow topology
interaction of an external concentric jet over the jet main stream. For such aim, numerical simulations have been
carried out at three different working conditions, generating three types of vortices, representing the artificial
generation of (i) vortices producing small quantity of thrust but requiring low energetic supplies (sub-critical
conditions), (ii) vortices producing large quantity of thrust but requiring high energetic supplies (super-critical
conditions) and (iii) the optimal vortex producing maximum thrust using minimal energetic supplies. Topological
variations will determine the effect produced by the interaction of the external concentric jet with the three types
of vortices described above.

Introduction although the net momentum is non-zero, explaining the generation of

Global warming, the greenhouse effect, the run out of fossil fuels, et
cetera, are some of the environmental problems encouraging researchers
to look for alternative vehicles, which minimize the environmental
impact. During the last years, in the field of marine locomotion a big
effort has been carried out by the community searching for alternative
propulsion systems, eco-friendly, inspired or even mimicking the swim-
ming motion of some marine animals [2].
The qualitative physical picture of the propulsion system driving the
swimming motion of some marine animal is given by a vortex ring found
behind their bodies, which produces thrust [2]. The efficiency and the
amount of thrust produced by the propulsion system depends on the type
of vortex generated and varies depending on the type of animal. The
balance between system efficiency and thrust is given by the optimal
vortex [6].
Synthetic jets are devices that are able to generate artificially the
optimal vortex [1]. A synthetic jet is a fluid stream formed by a group of
vortices enforced to leave periodically a cavity through an orifice. The
cavity contains a membrane or a piston that oscillates periodically,
making the flow continuously leave and re-enter into the cavity through
the same orifice. The net-mass flux that passes through the orifice is zero,
thrust. This fact makes very attractive the use of this device for several
industrial applications [4,8]
The generation of the optimal vortex depends only on two main pa-
rameters, the Reynolds and the Strouhal numbers, defined as Re ¼ UD ν and
U , respectively, with U, D, ν and f being the maximum velocity at the
St ¼ fD
exit of the jet nozzle, the jet nozzle diameter, the fluid kinematic viscosity
and the cavity oscillating frequency [3]. In a rounded synthetic jet, with a
cavity with diameter Dc ¼ 5D, the optimal vortex is generated for a
critical frequency value of St ¼ 0:022 for Re  104 . For frequencies
St > 0:022, super-critical regime, the system efficiency decreases, while
for frequencies St < 0:022, sub-critical regime, the generation of thrust
diminishes (more details in Ref. [7]). This article compares the topology
patterns of three vortices generated in a synthetic jet at Re ¼ 103
working in (i) sub-critical conditions, St ¼ 0:02, (ii) optimal conditions,
St ¼ 0:022, and (iii) super-critical conditions, St¼ 0:03, and the effects
produced by a concentric jet over such vortices. The main goal is trying to
understand if using more than one synthetic jet for propulsion would
alter the definition of the optimal vortex (optimal balance between thrust
and system efficiency). Studying the evolution of the topology patterns
provides a general overview on the system variations, which is a starting
point for future research on this topic.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: soledad.leclainche@upm.es (S. Le Clainche).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2019.100023
Received 20 June 2019; Received in revised form 16 July 2019; Accepted 19 July 2019
2590-1230/© 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
I. Palomo et al.
Fig. 1. Two concentric synthetic jets. Boundary conditions: O (Neumann for
velocity) and Uc ðtÞ (Dirichlet for velocity varying with time).
Fig. 2. Streamlines and instantaneous spanwise vorticity calculated in a
representative time instant of the injection phase in a synthetic jet (left) and two
concentric synthetic jets (right) at Re¼ 1000. From top to bottom: St¼ 0:02
(sub-critical), 0.022 (optimal) and 0.03 (super-critical).
Vortex topology patterns: results and discussion
The computational domain and boundary conditions considered in
this work are presented in Fig. 1. Cavity oscillations are modelled using a
b
periodic function defined as Uc ðtÞ ¼ Asinð2 π  St  tÞ, where t is the time
pffiffi
and A b ¼ 2 is the oscillation amplitude. Using these conditions, the
5
Results in Engineering 3 (2019) 100023
maximum velocity at the exit of the synthetic jet is U ¼ 1 (the average
axial momentum flow across the jet orifice is Ac U 2c ¼ 2AU 2 , with Ac , A,
Uc and U being the cavity and jet nozzle areas and the input and jet ve-
locities, respectively; these areas are defined as Ac ¼ π ðDc =2Þ2 and
A ¼ π ðD=2Þ2 ). The velocity is smaller for the external concentric jet,
defined as Ue ’ 0:42, since the external flow is conformed by an outer
ring, with diameter De ¼ 2ð6D 5DÞ and area π D2 ð62 52 Þ for the jet
orifice and Dec ¼ 2ð7:5D 2:5DÞ and area π D2 ð7:52 2:52 Þ for the cavity.
Numerical simulations have been carried out using the open source
code Nek5000 [5]. The computational domain contains 1525
macro-elements, each one discretized using spectral elements with
polynomial order p ¼ 6. A grid independence study has been carried out
measuring the frequencies in the near field of the jet using p ¼ 8, being
the dominant frequencies always similar to St, with variations in the forth
decimal digit. To ensure convergence, the numerical solver is evolved in
time for fifteen oscillations cycles (St1 15 time units).
Fig. 2 compares the evolution of the vortex ring in sub-critical,
optimal and super-critical conditions. In the sub-critical regime of
the synthetic jet (left), the jet stream breaks up into (at least) two
consecutive vortex rings, while in the super-critical regime, a single
vortex ring followed by a jet stream leaves the cavity and travels
downstream [3]. The optimal vortex is a transition between the
previous two regimes (two small vortex rings within the jet stream).
The influence of the second synthetic jet (right), alters the topology
of the main jet stream, which is only composed by a single vortex
ring followed by the jet stream, as in the super-critical regime of the
previous case (highest thrust). However, it is possible to distinguish
the three flow regimes in the vortex ring produced by the second
synthetic jet (upper), which is symmetric in the sub-critical regime
(St¼ 0:02). This symmetry breaks up in the two remaining regimes,
forming a big recirculation bubble in the lower part of the second
jet in the super-critical regime (St¼ 0:03); suggesting its connection
with the vanishing of the saddle point/big bubble found downstream
of the jet in the other two regimes (sub-critical and optimal).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the
publication of this article.
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