Reynolds number and geometry effects in laminar axisymmetric isothermal counterflows

The counterflow configuration is a canonical stagnation flow, featuring two opposed impinging round jets and a mixing layer across the stagnation plane. Although counterflows are used extensively in the study of reactive mixtures and other applications where mixing of two streams is required, quantitative data on the scaling properties of the flow field are lacking. The aim of this work is to characterize the velocity and mixing fields in isothermal counterflows over a wide range of conditions. The study features both experimental data from particle image velocimetry and results from detailed axisymmetric simulations. The scaling laws for the nondimensional velocity and mixture fraction are obtained as a function of an appropriate Reynolds number and the ratio of the separation distance of the nozzles to their diameter. In the range of flow configurations investigated, the nondimensional fields are found to depend primarily on the separation ratio and, to a lesser extent, the Reynolds number. The marked dependence of the velocity field with respect to the separation ratio is linked to a high pressure region at the stagnation point. On the other hand, Reynolds number effects highlight the role played by the wall boundary layer on the interior of the nozzles, which becomes less important as the separation ratio decreases. The normalized strain rate and scalar dissipation rate at the stagnation plane are found to attain limiting values only for high values of the Reynolds number. These asymptotic values depend markedly on the separation ratio and differ significantly from the values produced by analytical models. The scaling of the mixing field does not show a limiting behavior as the separation ratio decreases to the smallest practical value considered.