Experimental Study of Liquid Jet Impingement in Microgravity: The Hydraulic Jump

A preliminary study of the Circular Hydraulic Jump (CHJ) in microgravity is reported using water as the working fluid. The evolution of the CHJ radius was measured during a sudden transition from normal to microgravity in a drop tower. The downstream height of the CHJ was controlled by submerging the target plate in a tank filled with water to the desired depth, and the measurements are compared with an existing theory for the location of the CHJ. Results showed that the CHJ diameter was larger in microgravity than normal gravity. The adjustment of the CHJ diameter to a sudden change in gravity occurred over a period of about 200 ms for the conditions of the present study, and remained constant thereafter. For flow conditions that a CHJ was not first established at normal gravity but which later appeared during the transition to microgravity, the CHJ diameter was not constant during the period of microgravity but continually changed. Good agreement between the measured and predicted CHJ diameter was found for the normal gravity data, but comparatively poorer agreement was observed for the microgravity measurements.