The effect of chamber length and Reynolds number on the stability and behavior of the flow field generated by a precessing jet nozzle was studied using stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (StereoPIV). An algorithm was developed to determine the mode of the flow based on the distribution of axial velocity. The optimal chamber length for precession to occur was found to be between 2 and 2.75 chamber-diameters. There is no precession at a chamber length of one diameter, and the occurrence of precession was found to be strongly related to Reynolds number. Conditionally averaged velocity distributions for the flow in precessing mode were calculated. The effect of initial condition on downstream behavior of axisymmetric jets was examined. Variations in spread and decay rates were found for jets issuing from different nozzles. Self-similar solutions for axisymmetric jets are therefore not universal, and are instead dependent upon initial conditions at the source.

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