Simultaneous PIV/LIF measurements of a transitional buoyant plume above a horizontal cylinder

Results from an experimental investigation of the simultaneous temperature and velocity fields above an evenly heated horizontal cylinder with a Rayleigh number of 9.4E7 is presented. Ensemble averaged two-dimensional velocity and temperature fields, velocity fluctuations, temperature variance, and velocity–temperature correlations are computed from 2700 instantaneous data sets from simultaneous laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and particle image velocimetry (PIV). The vertical velocity and temperature field in the plume are compared with similarity solutions from turbulent planar plumes. The production of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) due to mean shear and buoyancy is evaluated and shows that the production of TKE is dominated by velocity shear.