Computational study of horizontal subsonic free jets of hydrogen: Validation and classical similarity analysis

Computational fluid dynamic simulations were performed using the commercial program Fluent in order to study the hydrogen concentration decay along the centerline of free horizontal subsonic jets. The hydrogen jets were assumed to be steady and turbulent. To explore the buoyancy effect on the hydrogen dispersion processes, the Froude numbers were varied from 250 to 1000. Zero gravity jets were also simulated and analyzed in order to determine the jet momentum dominated limit. Classical similarity analysis was performed and our results were compared to the results of vertical axisymmetric free jets from the literature.

► Computational fluid dynamic simulations of free subsonic horizontal hydrogen jets with and without gravitational effects.
► Buoyancy effect on the hydrogen dispersion processes.
► Subsonic jets momentum dominated limit.
► Comparison with classical similarity laws for vertical axisymmetric free jets.