Circular Hydraulic Jumps Triggered by Boundary Layer Separation

When a high-flow-rate circular jet impinges vertically on a horizontal plane, it flows out radially and then undergoes a distinctive hydraulic jump on the plane because of boundary layer separation induced by hydrostatic back pressure. The jump radius is shown to be 0.37 a Re(1/3) Lambda(-1/8), where Lambda=(ga(3)/nu(2)) Re(-7/3) is a modified Froude number, Re=(Q/anu) is the jet Reynolds number, a is the jet radius, and Q the liquid flow rate, which is favorably compared to experimental data in the limit of small Lambda. When Lambda exceeds 3.0x10(-4) at low flow rates, the jump radius decreases below a minimum in the film depth and our experiments detect a different jump mechanism that may be triggered by capillary pressure rather than hydrostatic pressure. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.