Open AccessA numerical and experimental study of the time‐evolution of a low Mach number jet
Author(s) -
Raga A.,
Sobral H.,
VillagránMuniz M.,
NavarroGonzález R.,
Masciadri E.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04305.x
Subject(s) - physics , mach number , jet (fluid) , dimensionless quantity , rotational symmetry , mechanics , flow (mathematics) , computer simulation , classical mechanics , computational physics
We present a comparison between a plasma‐generated ‘starting jet’ experiment and an axisymmetric numerical simulation of the flow. The experimental flow and the numerical simulation give results that agree both qualitatively and quantitatively, showing that the complex vortical structures arising in the flow are surprisingly well reproduced by the numerical model. This result inspires confidence in the accuracy of astrophysical jet numerical simulations. Also, even though the Mach number of our laboratory jet is somewhat low (M∼0.5), the dimensionless parameters of this jet are not very far from those expected for Faranoff–Riley class I radio jets.