An experimental investigation was conducted using particle image velocimetry to study the effect of nozzle geometry on turbulent free orifice jets. The nozzle geometries studied include the round, cross, flower, star, rectangular and elliptical nozzles (aspect ratio 2). The spread rate of the rectangular nozzle was 61% greater than the square nozzle while the elliptical nozzle was 45% greater than the round nozzle using the conventional half velocity width. The superior mixing capacity of the rectangular and elliptical nozzles is attributed to the axis-switching mechanism. Evaluation of the energy budget showed a higher level of production of turbulence and convection of the mean flow for the rectangular nozzle compared with the round nozzle. Two-point auto-correlation function revealed larger structures in the non-circular nozzles and in particular the rectangular nozzle. The Kolmogorov and Taylor microscales however, did not show any significant dependency on nozzle geometry. / October 2017