Air curtains are produced by thin vertical planar air jets and are used to prevent exchange flows between two fluids with a horizontal density gradient. They have been shown to work effectively provided the deflection modulus (D_M) is greater than a critical value (D_M = 0.14). Herein, results are presented from an experimental and modeling study of the initial transient development of the buoyancy distribution within an enclosure containing a round buoyant turbulent plume that is segmented by a co-flowing planar turbulent jet. A theoretical model based on filling box theory is developed to predict the leakage of buoyant fluid across the planar jet and the time at which the planar jet is no longer able to contain the buoyant plume outflow. Results from a series of analog salt-bath experiments are also presented that show that the model accurately predicts the rate of transport of buoyant fluid across the planar jet up until D_M falls below the critical value of 0.14. The experiments show that, following the breakdown of the model there is a transition period after which the horizontal distribution of buoyant fluid throughout the enclosure is the same as it would be in the absence of the planar jet.

气幕是由细小的垂直平面空气射流产生的，用于防止具有水平密度梯度的两种流体之间的交换流。如果挠曲模量（D _M）大于临界值（D _M），它们将被证明有效地工作。 = 0.14）。本文中，结果是通过实验和模型研究得出的，该研究是对包含圆形湍流湍流羽流的封闭空间内的浮力分布的初始瞬态发展进行评估的，该羽状流羽流由同向流动的平面湍流射流分段。建立了基于填充箱理论的理论模型，以预测浮力在平面射流中的泄漏以及平面射流不再能够容纳浮羽羽流的时间。还提供了一系列模拟盐浴实验的结果，这些结果表明，该模型准确地预测了直到D _M时浮力流体通过平面射流的传输速率。低于临界值0.14。实验表明，在模型分解之后，存在一个过渡期，此后整个外壳中的浮力液的水平分布与没有平面射流时的水平分布相同。