Experimental Study of Sand and Slurry Jets in Water

This paper presents the results of an experimental study of turbulent sand jets and sand-water slurry jets impinging vertically into a stagnant water body. The jets contained silica sand with a median diameter D-50 of 206 mu m, and with an initial concentration 0.60 by volume for the sand jets, and 0.055-0.124 by volume for the slurry jets. The jets had densimetric Froude numbers between 2.0 and 5.94. The sand concentration and velocity profiles were measured simultaneously using a novel fiber optical probe, up to a distance of 130d(o) for sand jets, and 65d(o) for slurry jets, where do is the jet diameter at the water surface. The jets were found to have self-similar Gaussian profiles. The centerline sand concentration within the jets was found to decrease rapidly, following trends similar to single phase plumes. The centerline sand velocity profile decreased significantly before reaching a plateau region. The terminal centerline sand velocity within this region varies somewhat depending upon sand mass flux, and is between 0.32 and 0.43 m/s. The spreading rates of the jets were found to vary with the particle Froude number. Within the sand jets and the higher Froude number slurry jet, the sand concentration had a smaller spreading rate than the velocity. The other slurry jets had equal concentration/velocity spreading rates. The momentum flux of the sand within the jets was found to decrease sharply, followed by a constant flux below a depth of 25 to 30 jet diameters.