Description
Plunging jet entrainment is a highly efficient mechanism for producing large gas-liquid interfacial areas. Applications include minerals-processing flotation cells, waste-water treatment, oxygenation of mammalian-cell bioreactors, riverine re-oxygenation weirs and the understanding of plunging ocean breakers. While detailed air-water flow measurements were conducted in a two-dimensional plunging jet, most studies of air entrainment processes at circular plunging jets have been qualitative. It is understood that plunging jet entrainment takes place when the jet impact velocity exceeds a critical velocity. For larger jet velocities, the developing region of plunging jet flow is subjected to strong interactions between the entrained air bubbles and the momentum transfer mechanism.
