Abstract
Wakes appearing downstream of disturbances on the surface of a water flow in a concave open channel were examined experimentally. The investigated channel geometry was similar to the liquid lithium target in DONES (Demonstration fusion power plant Oriented NEutron Source). The objective of the measurements was to analyze the effect of a disturbance on the downstream layer thickness. For measuring the height profiles in the channel, an optical measurement system based on laser triangulation was developed. It was shown that the wake of the undisturbed flow emerged from the nozzle corner, which was in accordance with analytical solutions. For sufficiently large disturbances at the nozzle edge, the height profiles located downstream showed symmetrical minima and maxima on both sides of the disturbance. The wake depth strongly depended on the diameter and penetration depth of the disturbance, as well as the circumferential position in the channel, which yields to a critical wake depth of one millimeter for the lithium target in DONES.