4.

Methodology

Measurements of the mixing length hm at each position l from the center of the tank
were performed using a Digital Video Camcorder (DVC-3400). The camera has a
resolution of 460 x 720 pixels. White and black balance was adjusted at each pixel to be
the same. After the inlet jet reached the quasi-steady state, visual inspection of the flow
was done. Adequate level of brightness was selected to make sure that the region of
diffusive turbulence differed in grayscale scale color from the mean flow influence of
the jet. Afterwards, recordings of 20 frames (frame rate of 2 fps) were made. The
process was done again for five runs at each position of the nozzle. Series of frames
were recorded onto computer and visualized using the DVCview software.
Estimations of hm were done identifying the region where the jet was broken up. To
fulfill it, the recordings were replayed at a slow speed. Based on visual observations and
analysis of the recordings, two different methods were proposed to obtain reliable
values of hm. Both were based in a selected set of video frame recordings where hm was
clearly distinguishable from the snapshots of the jet. This process was done for each
run.
The first method consists in estimating the value of hm using the brightness criteria
available from the standard DVC software. Selected recording frames were carefully
analyzed to get estimations of hm . Obtained dataset represents measurements of the
depth hm where the mean flow of the jet is zero in a quasi-steady state. Representative
value of hm is calculated by averaging this dataset for each run at a fixed position l. To
validate the mean value of hm for each run, data threshold was computed based on
calculations of the statistical error of the data, disregarding such run values that
exceeded this limit. After this process, the characteristic value of the mixing length hm
and its statistical error was obtained at each position l of the nozzle. Results are shown
in Fig. 3.
The second method consists in estimating the value of hm using image processing and
technical computation. ImageJ software is used for converting grayscale video
recordings into black and white ones, where black color represents the region of
influence of the jet mean flow. Then, the adequate frames for each run at a fixed
position x were selected to determine hm. The set of selected frames was exported to a
readable MatLab file format. Results of this process are shown in Fig.4. These frames
were processed by mapping black and white pixels using MatLab software and saved in
a matrix data file. After previous inspection of the exported images, region of breaking
jet was identified using two criteria: First criterion was based on black percentage of
pixels. To avoid breaking eddies related to diffusive turbulent events, the percentage
was chosen to be higher than 50 % but less 80%. Results were saved in a new matrix,
so-called region data matrix. The second criterion was based on the gap between rows
allowed to be in part of the focused region. In this case, set of data with gaps less than 4
were removed from the region data matrix. After this process, statistical data analysis
was done and value of hm was calculated by averaging this dataset for each run at a fixed
position l. Statistical error analysis was also computed following as it was done in the
first method. Finally, the characteristic value of the mixing length hm and its statistical
error was obtained at each position l of the nozzle. Results are shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 3. Image series of jet inlet into the tank at each centreline position l of the nozzle,
obtained from DVC camera after image processing. Black colour represents the
penetration zone of the jet into the tank. Small letter in brackets at the bottom part of
each sequence indicates the values taken for l and ranges between l = 0 to l = 2.7 cm.
 Eccentricity d/w vs normalized mixing length hm/w (R/H=0,065)

Figura 4. Plot

Eccentricity l/R vs normalized mixing length hm/H (R/H=0,065)

Figura 5. Visual inspection