Investigation into a confined laminar swirling jet and entropy production

A confined laminar swirling jet is an interesting research topic due to flow and temperature fields generated in and across the jet. In the present study, a confined laminar swirling jet is studied, and flow and temperature fields are simulated numerically using a control volume approach. In order to investigate the influence of the jet exiting (exiting the nozzle and inleting to the control volume) velocity profiles on the flow and heat transfer characteristics, eight different velocity profiles are considered. To identify each velocity profile, a velocity profile number is introduced. Entropy analysis is carried out to determine the total entropy generation due to heat transfer and fluid friction. Merit number is computed for various swirling velocities and velocity profiles. It is found that swirling motion expands the jet in the radial direction and reduces the jet length in the axial direction. This, in turn, reduces the entropy generation rate and improves the Merit number. Increasing velocity profile number enhances the entropy production rate, but improves the Merit number.