The phenomena of a condensible gas jet discharging into a liquid bath has attracted attention from investigators representing a number of interests and disciplines. This process may involve condensation of a pure component (steam into water), dissolution of a gas into a bulk liquid phase (ammonia into water), or a more complicated reactive situation (oxidizing gas injected into a liquid metal bath). In each of these systems, it is of interest to know the size and chamcteristics of the submerged jet cavity as a function of the operating conditions. Since the steam jet condensing into water has experimental advantages due to its relative safety and good optical qualities, the present investigation was limited to this case.Although numerous studies, for example, (1 to 3 ) have been conducted on noncondensible gases discharging into water, there have been relatively few studies of the condensing jet. In one of the earliest studies, Boehm ( 4 ) observed the cavity formed by R steam jet issuing from a 3-mm. diameter injector into a water bath. He observed that the length of the cavity increased with increasing bath temperature. As the bath approached the saturation temperature, the cavity became unstable and broke up into numerous individual bubbles.Glikman ( 5 ) probed the velocity and temperature distribution in cavities formed from axisymmetric and two dimensional injectors. The data was limited and no attempt was made to correlate the results, however, Glikman concluded that condensation occurs in an irregular wavy interface. Unusually high turbulence levels were estimated in proximity to the interface. Binford et al. (6) observed cavities formed by steam jetsissuing from vertical tubes having inside diameters in the range 0.0109-0.0226m. at atmospheric pressure. Jet exit mass velocities were in the range 58-350 kg/m2 * s at a fixed bath temperature of 305°K. It was found that the ratio of cavity length to injector diameter varied logarithmically with jet exit mass velocity. A definite change in slope was observed for this correlation when the injector was choked. I n the choked flow regime, the growth of cavity length with increasing mass velocity was much more rapid than for unchoked flow.Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to G. M.Faeth. P. J. Kemey is with Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania. Page 548May, 1972The goal of the present investigation was to extend the experimental range of these earlier investigations. Particular emphasis was placed on obtaining a correlation for cavity length as a function of operating conditions (bath temperature, injector mass velocity, diameter, etc.) . EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS AND PROCEDUREA sketch of the overall test apparatus is shown in Figure 1. The water bath was contained within a rectangular steel tank equipped with windows for observation and photography of the steam cavities. The water bath was 0.76 m high, 0.76 m wide, and 1.52 in. long. The bath temperature was measured by seven thermocouples placed at various locations in the bath. The tempe...

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