Turbulent mixing enhancement with a 20
chute mixer

a,* b
M.R. Ahmed , S.D. Sharma
a
Department of Engineering, The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji
b
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400 076, India

Abstract

Turbulent mixing enhancement of two confined, co-axial jets having a low annular to core area ratio of 0.26 is achieved with the
help of a 20
chute mixer. Detailed measurements were performed in the flowfield of a chute and contours of mean velocity and
streamwise and transverse turbulence intensities were plotted to gain a deeper insight into the mixing enhancement process. The
results from this work will aid in designing the mixer for low bypass turbofan engines. Mean velocity and turbulence intensity dis-
tributions were also obtained downstream of the chute mixer. Total and static pressure measurements were made to study the total
pressure loss and the static pressure variation due to mixing. The high velocity annular stream was found to quickly diffuse after
entering through the chutes and mix with the core stream due to higher levels of turbulence generated in the mixing region. A strong
transverse turbulence component immediately downstream of the chute exit enhanced the mixing of the penetrating stream with the
core flow. With the aid of the chute mixer, nearly complete mixing is achieved over a length of 2.2 duct radii, suggesting feasibility of
shortening the length of the turbofan engine mixing duct by more than 50%. However, a higher total pressure loss of about 1.71% is
the penalty to be paid for the enhanced mixing of jets.

Keywords: Turbulent mixing; Co-axial jets; Laser Doppler velocimetry; Chute mixer

1. Introduction
The process of turbulent mixing of co-axial jets finds
application in a variety of engineering devices. Study of
the aerodynamic behavior of co-axial jets in different
types of confinement is also of basic interest because it
involves a number of interacting turbulent flow phe-
nomena, the details of which are not yet understood
quantitatively. The factors that are involved in a mixing
process and are also primarily responsible for the com-
plexity are: the velocity ratio, temperature ratio, density
ratio, compressibility and turbulence levels of the two
streams, swirl, pressure gradient, interaction between
wall-bounded and free shear flows, mixing duct to core
jet diameter ratio and thickness of the core duct wall
[1–4]. In a constant area duct, the pressure gradient is
caused solely by the transfer of momentum between
the two co-axial streams. The total mass flow rate in
the duct remains constant while the momentum flux var-
ies axially consistent with changes in the pressure. The
relative diameters of the co-axial ducts and the length
of the mixing duct determine the pressure variation
and the flow pattern.
In most of the real engineering flows, it is desirable to
achieve complete mixing in the shortest possible length.
To enhance mixing over a short length, a concept of
‘‘forced mixing’’ is adopted in practice. The discovery
of large scale coherent structures in subsonic shear lay-
ers and their importance to the mixing process led to
the development of numerous mixing control techniques
with the basic approaches being passive control and
active control [4–6].
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Nomenclature
Cp coefficient of pressure ¼ 0.p
p 1
5qU 2m
, dimension-
less
p wall static pressure, N/m2
p1 wall static pressure at the first station, N/m2
r radial coordinate, mm
r0 inner radius of the mixing duct, mm
R radius of the chute opening, mm
u streamwise mean velocity at a point, m/s
u0 fluctuation in streamwise velocity, m/s
Um mass averaged velocity, m/s
pffiffiffiffiffiffi
u02 rms value of streamwise velocity fluctuation,
m/s
A thorough molecular level mixing of the cold by-
pass flow and the hot core flow prior to their exhaust
from the nozzle with minimum pressure loss is desirable
for optimum performance of a turbofan engine. Passive
mixing devices are employed to force the mixing over a
short length. Use of a lobed mixer in turbofan engines
with medium or high bypass ratio (ratio of the mass
flow rate through the annular region to that through
the core region), typically greater than 1, is commonly
made. For example, the Rolls-Royce engine RB
183 Mk 555-15P has a 10 lobed mixer for a bypass of
about 1. For a higher bypass of 3.1, the Tay 650 engine
has a 12 lobed mixer. A convoluted flow mixer is fitted
in F-110-GE-400 of General Electric with a bypass
ratio of 0.87. Angle mixers are provided typically in
RB 199 Mk 104 of Turbo-Union Ltd. with bypass of
nearly 1, F100-PW-229 of Pratt and Whitney with by-
pass of 0.7, EJ-200 of Eurojet with bypass of 0.4, and
FLYGMOTOR RM12 with bypass of 0.28. Investiga-
tions on various types of lobed mixers have been ade-
quately documented [7–9]. The lobe mixer periodically
converts the azimuthal vortices into streamwise vortices
and also increases the interfacial area—both are found
to be the key contributors to the mixing enhancement.
A convoluted mixer has relatively shallow penetration
and hence expected to generate only weak streamwise
vortices. An angle mixer, on the other hand, is the sim-
plest possible form which directs the annular flow into
the core forcing its diffusion in the core flow; however,
the forced deflection of the whole annular flow results
in a significant total pressure loss. For a case of partic-
ularly low bypass, use of a suitable mixer to enhance
the mixing is a challenging problem in view of the space
constraint due to smallness of the annular region.
Chute mixers have been used for low bypass engines,
but there seems no information available on this type
of mixer.
The enhancement in mixing is always achieved at the
cost of certain penalties associated with flow separation
w0 fluctuation in transverse velocity, m/s
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
w02 rms value of transverse velocity fluctuation,
m/s
x axial (streamwise) distance from the nozzle
exit, mm
x0 distance of the chute opening from the nozzle
exit, mm
y lateral distance, mm
z transverse distance, mm
k velocity ratio (annular to core), dimensionless
q air density, kg/m3
and eddies that result in an increase in losses. So, the de-
vice used for any application needs to be optimized to
minimize the losses. Paucity of published work on annu-
lar to core diameter ratios smaller than 2, despite its
practical application in military aircraft engines with
low bypass and the apparent lack of information on
the characteristics of the flow through chutes provided
the motivation for this work. In a turbofan engine, com-
plete mixing of the hot core and cold bypass streams im-
proves the propulsive efficiency of the engine and
reduces the noise level [10]. Detailed exploration of the
flowfield of a mixer is expected to facilitate the develop-
ment of predictive frameworks of the mixing efficiency
in turbulent flows. The rapidly increasing capabilities
of CFD give rise to the need of high quality and exten-
sive experimental data referred to flow configurations
that can be used for validation of numerical codes. A
justifiable need for undertaking a systematic investiga-
tion on turbulent mixing enhancement with the help of
a chute mixer configuration, pertinent to a low bypass
aircraft engine was, hence, strongly felt. As the size of
chutes in real engines are of the order of 10–20 mm
and scaled model studies will have jet size of a few
mm, only a non-interfering technique such as laser
velocimetry is likely to provide accurate results on the
chute flow.
2. Objectives
The present work is aimed at (a) gaining an insight
into the flow structure in the vicinity of the chutes as
soon as the chute flow enters the core region with the
help of mean velocity and turbulence intensities con-
tours for a 20
chute mixer, (b) following the flow down-
stream of the chute mixer to study the improved mixing
due to the chutes, and (c) studying the variation in static
pressure along the length of the mixing duct and the loss
in total pressure due to the improved mixing.

3. Experimental method
3.1. Wind tunnel
The experiments were carried out in a closed-circuit,
steel wind tunnel consisting of two concentric contrac-
tions discharging co-axial air jets with different velocities
into the test section (a mixing duct with a length to
diameter ratio of about 2.6). The mixing duct in the
present work is one-half the size of the mixing duct in
an actual engine. A schematic diagram of the concentric
contractions, the mixing duct along with a detachable
chute mixer mounted on the core nozzle rim is shown
in Fig. 1. The airflow was generated by two separate
centrifugal blowers driven by two ac motors, each with
30 kW power. The airflow for the core stream passes
through a pair of stainless-steel wire screens in the set-
tling chamber. A contraction ratio of 7.4 was employed
for the core stream. As it was not possible to provide
any flow straightening device for the annular stream, a
higher contraction ratio of 13.3 was employed for it.
The two co-axial jets come in contact with each other
when they enter the mixing duct having a length of
1000 mm and the same diameter as that of the annular
jet of 380 mm. The core jet diameter of 330 mm and
its nozzle wall thickness of 5 mm leave an annular gap
of 20 mm at the entry to the mixing duct, thus providing
an annular-jet-to-core-jet area ratio of 0.26. A chute
mixer with a diameter of 335 mm was made out of a
0.5 mm thick and 125 mm wide aluminum sheet using
a specially developed rubber pad forming technique. A
Fig. 1. Test set-up for co-axial ducted jets with details of the chute mixer fitted to the core nozzle rim.
163
mild steel cone with a base diameter of 16 mm was used
as the forming tool with a hard rubber block serving as a
pad. A spring-loaded press was used for holding the
forming tool and making depressions (openings) in the
aluminum sheet. Thirty six semi-circular openings were
made, each having a radius of 8 mm and gutter angle
of 20
, at circumferentially equal distances. The flow
passage in the chutes increases continuously from inlet
to exit. The net opening of the chutes physically works
out to be about 16% of the annular area and their geo-
metry is expected to facilitate flow only from the annular
region to the core region. The chute mixer was installed
in the test section, attached to the contraction nozzles.
As the mixer ring is 0.5 mm thick, there is a step of
about 2 mm on either side of the chute mixer. To ensure
streamlined flow over the chute mixer, the point of entry
to chutes was shifted downstream by (x0=) 75 mm. The
origin for streamwise (axial) distance measurements was
also shifted by this distance. Further details on the wind
tunnel, the chute mixer and the forming technique
employed for making the chute mixer are available in
Refs. [4,11,12].
3.2. Instrumentation
The experiments involved measurements of static
pressures on the mixing duct wall, total pressure across
the duct, mean velocity, streamwise and transverse
turbulence intensities.
For obtaining static pressure distribution along the
wall of the mixing duct, 15 threaded plugs of mild steel,
164

having piezometric holes of 0.5 mm diameter in the cen-

ter, were provided on the side at nearly equal intervals.
For making total pressure measurements, a pitot tube
(impact tube) was constructed from hypodermic stain-
less steel tubes of outer diameters of 1.5 and 3 mm.
These were used in a telescopic arrangement to make
the probe with small tip and strong stem. Such a pitot
tube with flat face and a diameter ratio of about 0.6 is
known to be insensitive up to higher yaw angles com-
pared to the normal pitot tubes [13]. The pressure mea-
surements were carried out with the help of a Furness
Controls micromanometer, model FCO510, having a
range of ±2040 mm of water column and a correspond-
ing d.c. analog output of ±5 V. The micromanometer
was used in conjunction with a Furness Controls chan-
nel selection box, model FCL-794. The channel selection
box has 20 input channels and one output channel. A
Dantec laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) was used in
the present studies. It is a dual beam fiber optics system
that works in backscatter mode. A TSI seed generator,
model 9302, was used with dioctyl pthalate (DOP) as Fig. 2. Radial distribution of mean velocity in confined jet (x/
r0 = 0.079).
seed material to generate seeds of the order of 1–2 lm
in size.
A three-dimensional microprocessor controlled step-
per motor driven traverse system, having RS-232 serial laser beams at those locations. Hence, hot-wire measure-
ports, was used for traversing the probe. The traverse ments were performed to get information on the boun-
has a longitudinal range of 1000 mm and transverse dary layer.
and lateral ranges of 500 mm each. A schematic diagram
of the test set-up and instrumentation with a detailed 3.4. Experimental procedure
description can be found in Ref. [11].
The static pressure at the first axial location was ob-
3.3. Initial measurements tained by taking the average pressure of eight circumfer-
entially located pressure plugs, and this was used as the
Initial measurements were performed to check the reference pressure for making calculations of pressure
uniformity of the flow coming out of the co-axial coefficient, Cp. The pitot tube (impact tube) was tra-
ducts and to study the boundary layer characteristics. versed radially in steps of 10 mm in the core stream po-
Fig. 2 shows the distribution of mean velocity along tential flow region and of 2–3 mm in the mixing and
the diameter in the horizontal plane in confined jets. annular regions at the first axial station, x/r0 = 0.1,
For comparison, mean velocity measured using LDV and then at the last axial station, x/r0 = 5.0, for mea-
along the same diameter is also plotted. It can be seen surement of total pressure. The pitot tube was first cal-
that the pitot tube and LDV measurements agree well ibrated for its sensitivity to yaw and was found to be
within 2%. Apart from slight variation in velocity close insensitive to angled flows up to ±10
.
to the wall in the boundary layer region, the profile is The temperature of the closed circuit tunnel was
symmetric about the center of the mixing duct. Care found to rise with the running of the tunnel and stabilize
was taken to ensure flow axisymmetry. This involved at a value between 68 and 72
C after about 20 min of
traverses across different diameters at the same cross- continuous running. The exact temperature depended
section of the mixing duct and also the use of wall static on the ambient conditions.
pressure tappings at different circumferential positions. All the LDV measurements were performed with a
Before carrying out the detailed measurements, pitot probe having beam separation of 38 mm and mounted
tube traverses were performed in orthogonal planes at with the lens having a focal length of 398.8 mm. This opti-
the last station, to ascertain that the flow is uniform cal combination with the laser wavelength of 514.5 nm
across the duct. gives measuring volume dimensions of 0.218 ·
The boundary layer thickness on both sides of the 0.218 · 4.584 mm3 and fringe spacing of 5.406 lm. The
contraction nozzle rim is one of the important initial seed particles were introduced into the tunnel through
conditions, but it could not be measured with LDV the plenum chamber to ensure their even distribution in
due to the practical difficulties involved in focusing the the annular and core jets. Typically, 8000 samples were

acquired at a point; however, the sample size was in-
creased to 15,000 in regions of high velocity gradient.
The traverse system was leveled using a spirit level
and aligned parallel to the mixing duct using the LDV
probe. The measuring volume was focused on the inner
surface of the optical window and the probe was tra-
versed in the axial direction. When the probe volume re-
mains focused all along the inner surface of the glass
wall, the traverse becomes parallel to the test section.
A good quality Doppler burst was ensured before
acquisition of the LDV data. The LDV signal was regu-
larly monitored on an oscilloscope and was observed to
generate regular bursts. Four typical histograms are
shown in Fig. 3. The histogram of transverse velocity
in the annular region, depicted in Fig. 3(a), shows a sym-
metric distribution. Measurements of transverse velocity
at different locations in the annular region indicated that
the mean velocity is nearly zero, although the velocity
range was ±2 m/s, establishing that no significant swirl
is present in the flow. Fig. 3(b) shows the histogram of
axial velocity in the mixing region which has a symmet-
ric distribution although the fluctuations in velocity are
large due of the high turbulence in the region. The his-
togram of transverse velocity in the mixing region,
shown in Fig. 3(c), indicates a large spread in the trans-
verse velocity with a symmetric distribution. Individual
particles have a velocity of ±20 m/s, while the mean
velocity is only about 0.3 m/s. A clear asymmetry is
present in the distribution of the axial velocity in the
mixing region in the chute flow, depicted in Fig. 3(d).
This is due to the injection of a smaller mass of the high-
er velocity annular stream into the core stream. It is
worth noting that such distributions are obtained only
in the chute flow where a part of the annular jet enters
the core region through the chutes.
Fig. 3. Typical histograms of (a) transverse velocity for annular stream, (b) axial velocity in the mixing region, (c) transverse velocity in the mixing
region, and (d) axial velocity in the mixing region in the chute flow.
165
Earlier study [14] showed that for a small annular
area, flows tend to mix better if the annular jet velocity
is lower compared to the core jet velocity (k < 1) result-
ing in a nearly uniform mean velocity profile at a dis-
tance of x/r0 = 5. In the present case, therefore,
application of a chute mixer is meaningful only when
k > 1. In the present work, k (annular stream velocity
of 66 m/s and core stream velocity of 36 m/s) = 1.8, cor-
responding to a bypass ratio of 0.47, was selected with a
mass-averaged velocity of Um = 40.7 m/s and a Rey-
nolds number of about 7.4 · 105 based on the mixing
duct diameter. All the velocities and turbulence intensi-
ties are non-dimensionalized with respect to Um. The
boundary layer thicknesses on either side of the nozzle
rim were about 2 mm. The boundary layers on both
the sides of the rim were turbulent. The freestream tur-
bulence levels of the core and annular jets, measured
close to the nozzle exit at x/r0 = 0.12 in the middle of
the jets, were 1.7% and 4.3%, respectively.
The accuracy of measurements of Cp was estimated
by calculating dCp from the expression of Cp (i.e.
C p ¼ ½p
p1 =0.5qU 21 ). Thus, the measurements of Cp
in the present studies were made with an accuracy of
1.3%. The accuracy of LDV measurements was esti-
mated following the procedure adopted by Cenedese
et al. [15]. The error on each single measurement is
determined by the error on the evaluation of the angle
between the laser beams. This error is usually greater
than the errors in the evaluation of the laser wavelength
and Doppler frequency and is of the order of 0.5%.
Being a systematic error, it will affect only the absolute
value of the velocity. If relative velocities have to be cal-
culated, the error will reduce to the evaluation of the
Doppler frequency by the signal analyzer which is of
the order of 0.3%. The maximum error is, thus, of the
166
order of 0.5%. The accuracy of the results of velocity
measurements is estimated by the percentage error in
the mass flow along the mixing duct estimated from
the velocity profiles. The maximum error was found to
be of the order 3.7%. A large number of samples was ac-
quired to ensure accuracy of turbulence measurements.
The maximum error in turbulence measurements is
found to be of the order of 3.1%.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Pressure measurements
The distributions of the mixing duct wall pressures
along the flow direction in non-dimensional form are
plotted in Fig. 4. As reported earlier [11,12,14] for
k > 1, instead of the expected rise due to mixing, the
pressures register steadily decreasing values under the
influence of viscous effects that become particularly
strong for small annular area. There is a further reduc-
tion recorded in the wall pressures when the chutes are
employed. The reduction of wall pressure is due to the
overall momentum effect. If we consider pressure and
momentum at the beginning of the mixing and presume
that the mixing is complete at the last measurement
point through momentum exchange, then for the pres-
ent case of annular to core area ratio of 0.26 and veloc-
ity ratio of 1.8, the pressure is found to decrease. This
decrease in pressure would depend of mixing. The higher
reduction is due to rapid mixing resulting from a rela-
tively higher chute angle of 20
. Also, there is higher
generation of turbulence with the chute mixer, which
is fluctuating kinetic energy generated at the cost of
pressure and hence that is also an added factor for
reduction of the pressure.
The total pressures measured in the last plane, x/
r0 = 5, were used to estimate the loss with reference to
the total pressures measured without the chute mixer
in the first plane, x/r0 = 0.12. The loss in the total pres-
sure across the mixing duct was thus estimated to be
about 0.41% without chute mixer and 2.01% with the
chute mixer. However, as we shall see later, complete
Fig. 4. Pressure distribution on the wall of the mixing duct.
mixing is achieved in a shorter length and the total pres-
sure loss was estimated up to this length.
4.2. Velocity and turbulence measurements
Fig. 5 shows the distributions of mean velocity,
streamwise turbulence intensity and transverse turbu-
lence intensity without the chute mixer. The streamwise
turbulence intensity in the mixing region is found to be
higher than the transverse turbulence intensity. It may
be noted that the freestream transverse turbulence inten-
sity is higher than the streamwise turbulence intensity in
the core region. This may be due to the use of contractions
which help u 0 more that w 0 [16]. For the annular stream,
however, the freestream streamwise turbulence intensity
is slightly higher than the transverse turbulence intensity.
The mean velocity profile at the first measurement
station (x/r0 = 0.12) clearly shows the wake effect of
the contraction nozzle trailing edge. At subsequent sta-
tions, there is a continuous exchange of momentum be-
tween the two streams. The annular jet spreads towards
the center and hence the velocity gradient between the
two reduces. The maximum turbulence is recorded at
the station x/r0 = 0.37 with the streamwise intensity
being about 18% and the transverse intensity about
13%. The shear region spreads downstream of this.
The mixing of the streams is not complete (judged by
uniformity of velocity profile and spread of high turbu-
lence region to the center) in a length of x/r0 = 5.0. A
velocity gradient between the two streams is still present.
Fig. 6 shows iso-mean velocity contours obtained
from detailed measurements of mean and fluctuating
components when the chute mixer is installed in the mix-
ing duct. Measurements of mean and fluctuating veloc-
ities were made with the help of LDV very close to the
point of entry, i.e. from (x
x0)/R = 0 to 6.25 with a
very fine grid. The parameter chosen for normalizing
the distances for contour plots was the radius of the
chute R (8 mm). Six profiles were taken with a Dx of
10 mm. In the lateral (y) and transverse (z) directions,
traverses with steps of about 2 mm were made and con-
tours of velocity were plotted. The chute mixer was
placed in the test section such that one chute is in the
vertical plane and exactly at the center of the optical
window. In the lateral direction, measurements were
performed upto a distance of y/R = 3.5 and in the trans-
verse direction, upto a distance of z/R = ±1.8 to ade-
quately cover the complete flowfield of the chute flow.
Fig. 6(a) shows the contours of mean velocity at the
first measurement plane. The flow accelerates in the
chutes before entering the core region. It is interesting
to note that the chute flow area is increasing from inlet
to exit and still there is a higher velocity at chute exit.
The maximum velocity at the chute exit is (u/Um=)
1.68, which is higher compared to the maximum velocity
of the annular flow (u/Um = 1.66). Although the static
Fig. 5. Distribution of mean velocity, streamwise turbulence intensity and transverse turbulence intensity without chute mixer.
168

Fig. 6. Iso-mean velocity (u/Um) contours in the chute flow at the locations (x
x0)/R of (a) 0.0, (b) 1.25, (c) 2.5, (d) 3.75, (e) 5.0, and (f) 6.25.

pressures of core and annular flows are equalized at the
exit of chute and at the exit of the chute mixer, it seems
the static pressure inside the annulus is higher. Also, the
protrusion of the chutes into the core region creates a
wake field just after the chute exit with a lower pressure
and the negative pressure gradient thus created across
the length of the chute opening pushes the flow from
annular region to the core. Such acceleration of flow
cannot be achieved by the passive entrainment of the
chute flow by the core flow which is deflected slightly to-
wards the center of the duct by the back of the chute.
Close to the chute wall, the protrusion of the chute
into the core region makes the flow passage for the core
stream slightly convergent, causing an increase in veloc-
ity of the core stream in that region. Thus, a region in
the plot shows a velocity of 0.9. Away from this, the core
flow has the freestream velocity of 0.88.
At the next station, shown in Fig. 6(b), the maximum
velocity reduces to 1.62 as the shear layer moves towards
the center of the mixing duct. The contours of higher
velocity (u/Um > 0.88) are seen to increase in size as
the velocity in the core region increases due to shearing
action between the two streams.
Fig. 6(c) shows the contours of mean velocity at the
station (x
x0)/R = 2.5. The maximum velocity in
the chute flow is found to reduce and the shifting of
the shear region towards the center of the core region
continues. The contour of the mean velocity of 0.90
has reached a y/R of 3.5 near the center of the chute,
while at the edges of the chute, a reduction in mean
velocity is observed due to the entrainment effect. This
reduction was not recorded for the case without chute
mixer. The mixing layer, in the chute flow, thus seems
to be having strong vortices which entrain flow from
both the streams. At subsequent stations, the high veloc-
ity region is confined to a very small area due to rapid
mixing. Gradual mixing of the chute jet with the core
jet can be seen from Fig. 6(d) and (e). It can be seen
from Fig. 6(e) that the velocity at a distance of y/
R = 3.5 from the chute wall is nearly 1 at the center of
the chute (an increase of about 13.6% compared to the
first station). It can also be seen that the velocity is high-
er near the center of the chute (z/R = 0) than near the
edges. The high velocity region has nearly disappeared
with most of the main chute region having a velocity
of about 1.2. At the last measurement station of
(x
x0)/R = 6.25, the region having a velocity of 1.2 re-
duces considerably (this velocity only being at a point).
It can be seen from the contours of Fig. 6(f) that most of
the area around the chute region has a velocity of be-
tween 1.0 and 1.1. Thus, the flow entering through the
chutes becomes well mixed with the core flow.
The flow through the annular gap is still at a high veloc-
ity (nearly equal to the freestream velocity). As the flows
on both sides of the chute mixer come in contact at the
end of the mixer, another shear layer (mixing layer) is
169
formed. Thus, now there are two distinct mixing layers
which result in faster mixing. Fig. 9 shows these two layers.
The contours of streamwise and transverse turbu-
lence intensities are shown in Figs. 7 and 8. At the first
station, i.e. at (x
x0)/R = 0, both the core and the
chute streams have their freestream turbulence intensi-
ties, although the turbulence inside the chute region is
slightly higher than the freestream turbulence of the
annular stream. A slightly smaller transverse distance
(for transverse component measurement) of z/R =
±1.4 was covered due to smaller size (width) of the opti-
cal window provided for passing the beams as the two
laser beams are in the vertical plane for transverse com-
ponent measurement.
Contour plots of turbulence intensities at the subse-
quent stations show a considerable increase in turbu-
lence in the shear region. As can be seen from Fig.
7(b), there is generation of high turbulence due to the
penetration of the chute flow into the core region. A
considerable area near the chute region now has a turbu-
lence level higher than the freestream value. It can be
noted from Figs. 7(b) and 8(b) that the high streamwise
turbulence intensity is present near the center of the
chute, while the contours of transverse turbulence inten-
sity, Fig. 8(b), suggest that high transverse turbulence
occurs near the edges of the chutes. This seems to be
the main cause of the spreading of the high velocity
chute jet transversely. It can clearly be seen from the
mean velocity contours of Fig. 6 that the chute jet is
spreading in both lateral and transverse directions.
The turbulence intensities at (x
x0)/R = 2.5 are
shown in Figs. 7(c) and 8(c). The spreading of the trans-
verse component starts becoming uniform from this sta-
tion. The continuous movement of the high streamwise
and transverse turbulence regions towards the center
of the core can be seen from the contours of Figs. 7(d)
and 8(d).
The downstream stations of (x
x0)/R = 5.0 and
6.25 show a large area of high turbulence in the core re-
gion due to diffusion of the chute flow into the core flow,
as can be seen from Figs. 7(e), (f) and 8(e), (f). At the last
station, (x
x0)/R = 6.25, a turbulence intensity of be-
tween 11% and 15% is seen to be present in most of
the flow region for both the streamwise and transverse
components. Comparison of Figs. 7(f) and 8(f) shows
that the high streamwise turbulence region has a stron-
ger movement in the lateral direction while the high
transverse component region has faster movement in
the transverse direction. At the last stations, the mean
velocity and turbulence intensity profiles are likely to
have some effect of the flow from adjacent chutes.
Fig. 9 shows the distributions of mean velocity,
streamwise turbulence intensity and transverse turbu-
lence intensity with the chute mixer. It can be seen from
the velocity profile at the first station, (x
x0)/r0 = 0,
that the velocity increases at the point of entry to the
170

pffiffiffiffiffiffi 
Fig. 7. Iso-streamwise turbulence intensity u02 =U m contours in the chute flow at the locations (x
x0)/R of (a) 0.0, (b) 1.25, (c) 2.5, (d) 3.75,
(e) 5.0, and (f) 6.25.
 171

pffiffiffiffiffiffi 
Fig. 8. Iso-transverse turbulence intensity w02 =U m contours in the chute flow at the locations (x
x0)/R of (a) 0.0, (b) 1.25, (c) 2.5, (d) 3.75,
(e) 5.0, and (f) 6.25.
Fig. 9. Distribution of mean velocity, streamwise turbulence intensity and transverse turbulence intensity with the chute mixer.

chutes. Also, the velocity of the core stream is found to
increase close to the wall due to reduced area of flow
resulting from the protrusion of the chutes. At the sec-
ond station, (x
x0)/r0 = 0.26, a velocity gradient is
set-up between the streams coming in contact, due to
the large velocity gradient between the higher velocity
annular stream and the flow through the chutes.
The profiles of turbulence intensities, that were show-
ing the freestream turbulence levels of the two streams
with a small peak due to the combined effect of bound-
ary layer and wake at the first station, now show a peak
corresponding to the shear region between the chute
flow and the core flow. Turbulence intensities profiles
at (x
x0)/r0 = 0.40 show two peaks corresponding to
the two shear regions (the other one set up due to the
gradient in velocity between the streams on either side
of the chute mixer). This increased turbulence is the
cause of higher total pressure loss and was discussed
previously [11,12]. At the subsequent stations, the turbu-
lence is seen to spread towards the center as the region
of high velocity gradient moves towards the center.
The mean velocity distribution at the last station
((x
x0)/r0 = 4.60) shows a nearly mixed profile with
a slightly higher velocity just outside the boundary layer.
The turbulence profiles show the reduced peaks with
their locations moving close to the center.
The penetration of part of the annular flow into the
core region is estimated by calculating the area of the
individual contours using a Sokkisha digital planimeter,
model KP-90. The planimeter has an accuracy of
0.1 cm2. The mass flow through the chutes was esti-
mated by integrating the mean velocity contours. It
was found that 12% of the annular flow enters the
chutes. As the area of chutes at exit is 16%, it shows that
the mixer is effective in penetrating a good part of the
annular flow into the core region. The total pressure loss
between the first station without the chute mixer and the
last station (with the mixer) was found to be 2.01%.
However, as can be seen from Fig. 9, complete mixing
is achieved in a length of 2.26 times the duct radius
and up to this length, the loss in total pressure was mea-
sured to be 1.71%, while without the chute mixer, the
loss up to this station is 0.27%. Similar results were ob-
tained by Cullom and Johnson [17] for a lobe mixer con-
figuration who reported a reduction of about 45% in the
length required for complete mixing. Total pressure
losses of 0.8–1.2% were observed for the various cases
studied. Singh et al. [18] reported a reduction of about
21% in the length required for obtaining a fully mixed
profile with the help of contra-swirling jets.
Beyond this length of 2.26 duct radii, an additional
total pressure loss of about 0.29% occurs up to the last
measurement location, which is mainly due to friction.
It should be noted that if the chute angle is increased be-
yond 20
, it is likely to result in flow separation and
hence a considerably higher pressure loss.
173
4.3. Turbulence energy
Fig. 10 shows the non-dimensional turbulence energy
available across the cross-sectional area of the mixing
duct along the length at various streamwise locations
with and without the chute mixer. The turbulence en-
ergy was computed from integration of the measured
turbulence intensities (shown in Figs. 5 and 9) assuming
that the third orthogonal component of turbulence (not
measured) is equal to the transverse component. Thus,
the total turbulence energy per unit mass is given by
1 u02 w02
s¼ 2
þ 2
2 Um Um
For the case without chutes, the turbulence energy in-
creases considerably from x/r0 = 0.12 to 0.37 and only
slightly up to x/r0 = 1.2. The content is seen to remain
nearly constant downstream showing that the decay in
turbulence, which is an indication of mixed flow develop-
ing into a turbulent pipe flow, has not yet started. With
the chute mixer, the turbulence energy content increases
rapidly upto x/r0 = 0.8 and then slightly up to x/r0 = 1.2
where the maximum value is observed. Downstream of
this, the turbulence energy is found to decay, showing
an approach towards pipe flow development. It can be
noted that the turbulence level is more than twice for
the case with chutes compared to the case without the
chutes, which seems to be the obvious reason for faster
mixing achieved with the chute mixer. The increased tur-
bulence production due to the chutes suggests formation
of vortical structures and their stretching in the strain
fields. However, for detection of vorticity, a conditional
sampling technique needs to be employed using the
inherent periodicity of the flow. This was not possible
in the present case due to the lack of an additional trig-
gering signal. In the case of chute mixers, smaller scale
flow structures were expected to dissipate in far field
where the mixing duct wall boundary layer spreads deep
into the narrow annular flow region. In the case of lobe
mixer, turbulence is generated by the normal vorticity
resulting from the axial velocity difference. Apparently,
the interfacial area is largely increased by the convoluted
trailing edge. The thickness of the mixing layer in the
case of this mixer is increased because the turbulence is
Fig. 10. Influence of chutes on turbulence energy content at various
streamwise locations.
174
generated not only by the normal vorticity, but also by
the axial vorticity. As a result of this process, the mixing
region quickly spreads to encompass the entire flow do-
main [7–9]. The generation of higher turbulence is also
seen in the case of contra-swirling flows, which helps in
faster mixing of the jets [19]. This is due to the formation
of a recirculation zone. In the case of chute mixer, a
strong radial component is expected due to the injection
of the annular flow into the core region at an angle.
5. Conclusions
Effect of directing part of the annular stream towards
the core region at an angle of 20
is investigated in de-
tail. Flow coming out of the individual chutes is ex-
plored with a very fine spatial resolution. The chutes,
which constitute 16% of the annular area, direct 12%
of the mass of annular stream towards the core region.
The resulting interaction between the deflected stream
and the core stream gives rise to considerably higher
level of turbulence both in streamwise and transverse
directions. High streamwise turbulence is generated near
the center of the chutes while high transverse turbulence
is generated near the edges of the chutes. The transverse
turbulence component was found to be much stronger
immediately downstream of the chute exit, causing rapid
mixing in the transverse direction. A very interesting
observation is the formation of two distinct shear re-
gions as the streams interact at the end of the chute
mixer. The total turbulence generation is more than
twice with chutes compared to the case without chutes,
which seems to be the prime cause of enhanced mixing.
The streams were found to mix completely over a length
of 2.2 times the radius of the mixing duct. However, a
total pressure loss of 1.71% is the penalty to be paid
for the improved mixing and reduction in mixer length.
6. Recommendations for future work
There are many parameters that influence the turbu-
lent mixing process. Effect of initial turbulence levels of
the two streams is one such parameter which deserves
attention, as not much work on this is available. The ef-
fect of a temperature gradient between the two streams
also needs to be studied. In the present work, measure-
ment of vorticity and the study of vortical structures
could not be performed. A deeper insight into the mech-
anism of mixing enhancement can be gained if the for-
mation and dissipation of vortical structures are studied.
Acknowledgment
Full financial support for the work reported here was
received from Aeronautics R&D Board, Ministry of
Defense, Government of India, under Project No.
Aero/RD-134/100/10/92/709.
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