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WATER JET CONFERENCE - Waterjet Technology Association

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VISUALIZATION OF THE CENTRAL CORE OF HIGH-SPEED <strong>WATER</strong><br />

<strong>JET</strong>S<br />

AN INFRARED TECHNIQUE<br />

Eugene B. Nebeker, Ph.D., and John B. Cramer<br />

Scientific Associates, Inc.<br />

Santa Monica, California<br />

ABSTRACT<br />

Valuable information about structure, coherency, etc. of a high-speed water jet<br />

can be obtained by examining the central core. This problem is complicated because<br />

aerodynamic drag on the jet shears off the exterior surfaces of the core to form a mist<br />

which surrounds the jet. The presence of this mist often prevents direct observation of the<br />

core because the mist absorbs or scatters the light needed to visualize the core.<br />

Many investigators have employed photographic methods to penetrate the<br />

surrounding mist for the purpose of observing the core. These earlier procedures did not<br />

produce photographs with sufficient contrast to allow the examination of fine details of<br />

the jet.<br />

An infrared photography technique is presented which was developed to improve<br />

direct examination of a jet core. The procedure is inexpensive, relatively convenient, and<br />

adaptable to use in the field. The method uses light absorption and exploits the fact that<br />

water absorbs light in the infrared region of the spectrum much better than in the visible.<br />

INTRODUCTION<br />

Valuable information about structure, coherency, etc. of a high-speed water jet<br />

can be obtained by visualizing the central core. This problem is complicated because<br />

aerodynamic drag on the jet shears off the exterior surfaces of the core to form a mist<br />

which surrounds the jet. The presence of this mist often prevents direct observation of the<br />

core because the mist absorbs or scatters the light needed to visualize the core.<br />

Many investigators have employed photographic methods to penetrate the<br />

surrounding mist for the purpose of observing the core (Brown). Unfortunately, this<br />

earlier work was not useful to us in our Percussive Jet development (Nebeker and<br />

Rodriguez, 1973, 1979) because we needed to visualize very minute details of the fluid<br />

mechanics of a bunching mechanism. This process was happening, for example, 20,000<br />

times per second while the individual bunches were travelling at the bulk velocity of the<br />

jet at about 1000 feet/second.<br />

Therefore, some process was needed to more effectively penetrate the mist<br />

surrounding the core of a high-speed jet. The technique should be capable of stopping the<br />

motion of the jet so details can be examined. The procedure should be inexpensive,<br />

relatively convenient, and adaptable to use in the field.<br />

90

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