Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 34 (2010) 633–637

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Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science

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A note on unsteady impinging jet heat transfer

S. Bhattacharya *, A. Ahmed
Aerospace Engineering Department, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Reported are the results of experiments on a regular in-line-jet that was modified prior to its impinge-
Received 14 July 2009 ment to improve heat transfer on the plate. Modifications consisted of insertion of two bluff bodies
Received in revised form 9 November 2009 and a streamlined body in the jet. The improvement in transport coefficients was attributed to the peri-
Accepted 14 December 2009
odicity in the flow which caused the attachment point to sweep the reattachment region and the turbu-
lence created was distributed over a large area compared to simple attachment.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Impinging jet
In line jet
Impinging jet heat transfer

1. Introduction
Impinging jets have been studied over the years for their impor-
tance in industrial applications, mainly in cooling, heating or dry-
ing. The high levels of convective heat and mass transfer that can
be achieved are the prime motivation for their continued use
[15,10,9,3]. Impingement of jets from a number of different nozzle
geometries and configurations such as planar, single and multiple
round and elliptical nozzles have been investigated to date
[4,1,6]. However single round jets are preferred due to symmetric
boundary conditions and simplicity. Martin [16], Down and James
[5] and more recently Jambunathan et al. [12] provide an excellent
review of the heat transfer characteristics of circular impinging
jets.
From the previous work it is evident that the important factors
that play a significant role in the enhancement of the transport
properties of impinging jet are the Reynolds number, nozzle diam-
eter, impingement distance i.e. spacing between the nozzle and the
wall, and turbulence levels in the jet. Lee et al. [13] showed that lo-
cal Nusselt number increased in the stagnation point region with
an increase in the nozzle diameter and attributed it to the increase
in the jet momentum and turbulent intensity levels attained with
large nozzle diameter. In the case of annular jets it has been shown
that with decreasing distance between the nozzle and the plate,
the velocity approaching the impingement surface increased
resulting in higher heat transfer along the flow direction and in
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 334 444 1674; fax: +1 334 844 6803.
E-mail addresses: bhattacharya.30@buckeyemail.osu.edu (S. Bhattacharya),
aahmed@eng.auburn.edu (A. Ahmed).
the vicinity of the attachment point [11]. Popiel et al. [17] recom-
mended placement of the flat plate at the end of the potential core
region of the jet in order to attain maximum heat fluxes at the stag-
nation point. Guo and Wood [8] made measurements along the
stagnation streamline of a plane jet impinging on a flat plate and
maintained the spacing in such a way so that the stagnation
streamline remained in the potential core of the jet. They found
that in the region close to the plate the attenuation of streamwise
velocity caused a large velocity gradient which contributed to in-
creased level of normal stress. The spectral decomposition of the
velocity and pressure fluctuation showed that the increase in the
level of energy production was mainly due to the low frequency
motion.
A typical streamline pattern of an impinging jet without excita-
tion or flow modification is shown in Fig. 1. Since the heat transfer
is high in the vicinity of the stagnation point, two techniques have
been attempted in experiments to improve the performance of
in-line jets. First by increasing the turbulence levels by pulsation
[2], excitation [14], or by introducing intermittency in the flow
[18], and secondly by physically displacing the stagnation stream-
line over a wider region [7].
This paper describes experimental investigation of an inexpen-
sive and simple method to improve convective heat transfer of an
impinging jet. Unsteadiness in the jet was introduced by placing an
eccentrically mounted round cylinder and an airfoil near the nozzle
exit. As a result of the fluid–structure interactions both oscillated
freely about the longitudinal axis and imparted multiple scales to
the jet in addition to oscillatory dislocation of the stagnation
streamline from its mean trajectory. In addition a stationary round
cylinder was also tested. The heat transfer coefficients and the sur-
face pressure distributions of all three were compared with the
unperturbed in-line jet.

0894-1777/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2009.12.004
634 S. Bhattacharya, A. Ahmed / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 34 (2010) 633–637
Fig. 1. Streamlines of an impinging jet.
2. Experimental setup
The test setup is presented in Fig. 2. The nozzle consisted of a
straight tube of 50 mm inside diameter and 15 cm in length con-
nected to a reservoir with flow conditioning screens and honey-
comb. A separate attachment was clamped near the exit of the
nozzle to hold the cylinder and airfoil without disturbing the jet.
Cylinder models were made from solid aluminum stock of nominal
diameter of 1 cm. One cylinder had a mounting pin at the center
and the second cylinder had the pin located at 2.5 mm from the
center allowing the cylinder to oscillate when positioned in the
jet. The streamlined airfoil consisted of a NACA 23012 airfoil sec-
tion and had a chord length of 12 mm. It was equipped with the
mounting pin that was located at 3 mm from the leading edge. Be-
cause of the camber of the airfoil the flow was not symmetric and
as a result the airfoil oscillated when placed in jet.
Tests consisted of measurement of mean surface pressures and
heat transfer on a flat plate during jet impingement for four cases
consisting of (1) in-line jet, (2) in-line jet with stationary cylinder,
(3) in-line jet with eccentrically mounted oscillating cylinder, and
(4) in-line jet with oscillating cambered airfoil. A calibrated in-line
flow meter was used to determine the flow rate through the noz-
zle. The mass flow rate was held constant at 0.061 kg/s that re-
sulted in a jet exit velocity of 25 m/s and a corresponding
Reynolds number of 83,000 based on nozzle diameter. Exit velocity
was also calculated from the difference between the stagnation
pressure and the atmospheric pressure and was found to be in
good agreement with the velocity calculated from the flow meter.
Fig. 2. Setup.
2.1. Pressure measurement
An acrylic flat plate with a single pressure tap in the middle
was used for pressure measurement. The plate was mounted on
a computer controlled single degree of freedom traversing system
that traversed the plate±10 cm from the centerline of the jet. The
vertical spacing between the nozzle and the plate was 10 cm and
was held constant for all tests. The pressure tap was connected to
a calibrated differential pressure transducer. Analog signals from
the pressure transducer and traversing system were digitized
using an A/D board and sampled at 1500 Hz. At each position
5 s of data was recorded with a 10seconds of settling time. Pres-
sure transducer calibration was checked before and after each
test condition. From the datasheet provided by the manufacturer,
the accuracy of the pressure transducer was found to be 0.5% of
full scale output. The total relative standard uncertainty due to
transducer calibration and A/D board resolution error was below
3%.
2.2. Temperature measurement
Test setup for the heat transfer measurement is presented in
Fig. 3. An Inconel 600 nickel alloy foil of 1 mil (25.4 lm) thickness
was held securely on a porous acrylic plate mounted on a plenum
connected to a vacuum pump. With adequate seals provided at the
edges a slight vacuum ensured flatness of the foil. Two linear roller
type electrodes were connected to a power supply for heating the
foil at a constant voltage and for energy input calculations. A ther-
mal image of the unheated foil (with the airflow coming out of the
nozzle and impinging the foil) was taken to establish a base tem-
perature distribution. A power of 50 W was supplied from a power
source (HP model 6023A) with an average of 2 V and 25 ampere
current. After the voltage was applied across the foil, it was al-
lowed to reach steady state in approximately 20 min. Then a sec-
ond thermal image of the heated foil with impinging jet was
recorded. Both the images were stored in the computer digitally
and then the image of the unheated foil was subtracted from the
image of the heated foil. Considering the foil material to be homog-
enous (without any imperfection which promote formation of hot
spots), the heat input per unit area can be taken as constant. Since
the temperature change and energy per heated area is known, local
heat transfer coefficient can be calculated using the following
relationship:
q ¼ hðT h  T c Þ
Here h is the convection heat transfer coefficient and Th and Tc
refers to hot and cold temperatures of the foil.
Fig. 3. Setup for temperature measurement.
 S. Bhattacharya, A. Ahmed / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 34 (2010) 633–637
This process was repeated for each test configuration. The
uncertainty in the thermal imaging experiment was well within
5% for 15 image average.
2.3. Flow visualization
Flow visualization experiments were conducted in a water tun-
nel to understand the kinematics of the flow. An Argon Ion laser
with a combination of cylindrical and spherical lenses was used
to produce light sheet that illuminated the jet impinging on the
tunnel floor. A Panasonic CCD camera and a VCR were used to ob-
tain and record the data. Video records were played back frame by
frame for qualitative analysis. The entire nozzle assembly was in-
stalled in the water tunnel on a three axis traversing system. Water
was supplied to the nozzles by a flexible hose and metered with
the help of a King Instruments rotameter. Average flow rate was
maintained at 120 L/min that provided jet exit velocity of 1 m/s
and a Re of 50,000. Because of the high flow rate, hydrogen bubbles
and injection of fluorescent dye were not successful. However it
was noted that an adequate amount of air was present in the oscil-
lating jet system for flow visualization.
3. Results and discussion
Surface pressures measured along the plane of symmetry of the
jet for four cases are presented in coefficient form in Fig. 4. Pres-
sure coefficients were calculated using:
p  patm
Cp ¼ 1
q U2
2 jet jet
Here p  patm is the differential pressure referenced to atmo-
spheric pressure and qjet and Ujet are density and exit velocity of
the jet respectively.
As can be seen in Fig. 4 the spread of jet after impingement is
confined to ±2 jet diameters from the centerline and becomes a
wall jet that loses momentum rapidly as it moves outwards. In-line
jet produces a single high pressure peak directly underneath the jet
and is symmetric. With the cylinder in place the pressure coeffi-
cient plots shows two distinct peaks that are due to the impinge-
ment of shear layers from either sides of the cylinder with one
side dominating and is typical of bluff body wakes. Interestingly
Fig. 4. Mean surface pressure distribution.
635
enough the stationary and oscillating cylinders show similar trends
but that was expected as the amplitude of oscillations was ob-
served to be well within the range of shear layer excursions. How-
ever the pressures registered for the oscillating cylinder are higher
and is attributed to the narrowing of the wake. In comparison the
cambered airfoil produced less velocity deficit because of the
streamlining and hence the jet traversing the airfoil imparted high-
er momentum to the wall. Asymmetry in the pressure distribution
is due to the camber of the airfoil. The lowest centerline pressure
was exhibited by the stationary cylinder. The oscillating cylinder,
being free to rotate, allowed more fluid to be driven down toward
the plate directly below it than the stationary cylinder.
The image presented in Fig. 5 shows the temperature differen-
tial after the thermal image of the unheated foil with impinging
jet was subtracted from the thermal image of the heated plate with
impinging jet, taken in quiescent environment. Thus a lower tem-
perature indicates higher heat transfer rate. Although the experi-
mental setup prevented viewing of the region directly, it did not
significantly affect the extraction of important thermal parameters.
It is evident that the region of highest heat transfer exists directly
below the jet surrounded by a ring of lower heat transfer as the
flow moves outwards. Because of the high velocity, jet cannot turn
smoothly after impingement and consequently it separates and
reattaches resulting in the formation of secondary ring around 1
nozzle diameter from the centerline. This ring also signifies the
presence of a separation bubble or recirculation region consisting
of trapped eddies. Trapped eddies are a common feature however
their residence time in a ‘‘trapped position” varies for different
flows. Eventually they are ejected and replaced by other eddies.
In an instantaneous snap shot, these eddies do appear as trapped.
A separation bubble is a characteristic of impinging jets. They are
formed as a consequence of impingement, separation and reattach-
ment of shear layer vortices on the plate .This feature was observed
for all cases and confirmed during flow visualization tests.
In calculating the Nusselt number Nu ¼ hd k
, the local convective
heat transfer coefficient was determined for a given element of
area A from:
Q conv
hloc ¼ :
AðT plate  T jet Þ
For the average Nusselt number, the average heat transfer coef-
ficient then written as
R
R R0f    
2p 0 hloc Rr0 d Rr0
havg ¼  2
Rf
p R0
In which r/R0 is a dimensionless radius measured from the jet
centerline and Rf/R0 is the dimensionless radius over which the
integration is performed. The value of havg at a given radial location
Rf is the effective heat transfer coefficient for the entire disk from
r = 0 to r = Rf.
Fig. 5. DT distribution for oscillating jet.
636 S. Bhattacharya, A. Ahmed / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 34 (2010) 633–637

selt number corresponding to the low heat transfer is discussed

earlier in conjunction with the Fig. 5.
Results of oscillating cylinder can be explained in terms of the
wake vorticity dynamics. Both configurations produced Karman
vortices however in the case of oscillating cylinder; the stagnation
streamlines moved a finite distance away from the centerline. The
overall heat transfer therefore is a result of higher turbulent mixing
due to a combination of shed vortices and excursions of attach-
ment flow in the stagnation region. Airfoil wakes have concen-
trated vorticity near the trailing edge and for low angle of
incidences there are no large vortices. Results however show that
the oscillating airfoil had the highest heat transfer. This is attrib-
uted to the curvature of streamlines in the wake due to the airfoil
camber. Consequently, the attachment streamlines were displaced
over a larger area and hence the higher heat transfer.
Limited flow visualization experiments were pursued to quali-
tatively determine the flow properties that governed the heat
transfer characteristics. The oscillating cylinder and the stationary
cylinder showed similar flow pattern however the Karman vortices
were more stable in the stationary cylinder wake. Because of the
presence of wall, shear layers on either sides of the cylinder were
Fig. 6. Distribution of local Nusselt number.
compressed in way that reduced the spacing between the Karman
vortices and shortened the vortex formation region. A topological
cartoon of the flow presented in Fig. 8 shows the presence of saddle
points between the vortices and the stagnation point in itself is a
Fig. 6 show the variation of local Nusselt number in the radial
half saddle of attachment. A considerable amount of recirculation
direction starting from the region near the geometric centerline
was also observed. As the flow turned outwards, vorticity in the
of the impinging jet. Note that a slight displacement of curves from
shear layer and the boundary layer being of opposite sign helped
r/d = 0 is primarily due to the experimental setup that blocked the
thermal imager view of the plate directly under the jet. The in-line
jets shows a rapid drop of Nusselt number away from the stagna-
tion point followed by another increase around r/d = 2 and tapering
off beyond that point. Similar characteristics of outer flow are also
visible for other cases as well and are attributed to the interaction
between the shear layer and the boundary layer on the plate as the
flow moves outwards as a decaying wall jet. In contrast, all other
impinging jets produced a gradual drop in Nusselt number and
higher heat transfer compared to the in-line jet. These trends also
apply to the average Nusselt number plot presented in Fig. 7. The
oscillating jets show improvements over the in-line jet by as much
as 20% for the configuration tested, with the oscillating airfoil
showing the highest heat transfer coefficients. Also, a drop in Nus-

Fig. 8. Flow pattern with stationary/oscillating cylinder.

Fig. 7. Distribution of average Nusselt number. Fig. 9. Flow pattern with oscillating airfoil.
 S. Bhattacharya, A. Ahmed / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 34 (2010) 633–637
diffuse the flow more rapidly as evident from the relaxation of sur-
face pressures in Fig. 4.
In the case of the oscillating airfoil, a single stable vertical struc-
ture was observed (Fig. 9). This vortex was spatially not very stable
and was driven outward by the flow soon after its formation. The
stagnation point (again a half saddle point) was not stationary,
and no trapped recirculating eddy was observed. The last two
observations explain the high heat transfer coefficient of the
impinging jet with airfoil induced oscillations. The fact that the air-
foil had only a small effect on the pressure distribution but higher
heat transfer characteristics after impingement indicate that this
was primarily due to the oscillatory dislocation of the stagnation
streamline.
4. Conclusion
A simple method of improving the transport properties of in-
line jets by inducing oscillations in the flow was tested. Three con-
figurations were used for this purpose, a stationary cylinder, an
eccentrically mounted cylinder and an airfoil subjected to self in-
duced oscillations. The ensuing oscillating jet configurations
showed higher heat transfer rates than in-line jet tested under
the similar conditions. The improved heat transfer characteristics
of the impinging jet were attributed to two mechanisms consisting
of enhanced mixing/turbulence due to bluff body wakes vortex
dynamics and oscillatory dislocation of the stagnation streamline.
The oscillating airfoil showed the greatest heat transfer rates of
the four configurations tested. The airfoil produced the greatest
dislocation of the stagnation point on the plate, and it had a min-
imal amount of recirculation directly under the airfoil. This simple
technique has promise in mixing and drying applications with
minimum external energy input.
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