PDF Modeling Study of a Self-Similar Turbulent Plane Jet Flow

This study presents a turbulence probability density function (pdf) equation model to solve a self-similar turbulent plane jet flow. The approximate moment method is also applied to solve this pdf equation. The calculated mean velocity, turbulent energy and Reynolds stress agree well with the available experimental data, indicating that the pdf equation model and the moment method can quantitatively describe the statistics of free turbulence. Additionally, the turbulence energy balance and shearstress balance are calculated. According to these calculations the pdf methods are more highly promising than conventional turbulence models in terms of revealing turbulence structure. The applicability of the simple theories of turbulence is also discussed.