Nozzle startup in an oncoming flow

Three variants of the startup of an axisymmetric convergent-divergent nozzle are considered with the static pressures at the entry and exit of the nozzle being the same at the beginning of the process. The subsonic startup corresponds to open nozzle acceleration in air. The supersonic startup simulates the sudden opening of a cover at the nozzle inlet under supersonic flight conditions. A successful nozzle startup with the formation of steady supersonic flow along the whole channel is realized in the third variant of supersonic startup with gas injection through a small region of the wall of the divergent nozzle section. The investigation is performed numerically, on the basis of the Euler equations for axisymmetric gas flows.     

Detonation combustion of hydrogen in a Laval nozzle under rarefied atmosphere conditions

Detonation combustion of a hydrogen-air mixture entering an axisymmetric convergent-divergent nozzle at a supersonic velocity is considered under atmospheric conditions at altitudes up to 24 km. The investigation is carried out on the basis of the two-dimensional gasdynamic Euler equations for a multicomponent reacting gas. The limiting altitude ensuring detonation combustion in a Laval nozzle of given geometry is numerically established for freestream Mach numbers 6 and 7. The possibility of the laser initiation of detonation in a supersonic flow of a stoichiometric, preliminarily heated hydrogen-air mixture is experimentally studied. The investigation is carried out in a shock tube under conditions simulating a supersonic flow in the nozzle throat region.     

Detonation combustion of hydrogen in a convergent-divergent nozzle with a central coaxial cylinder

The feasibility of steady detonation combustion of a hydrogen-air mixture entering at a supersonic velocity in an axisymmetric convergent-divergent nozzle with a central coaxial cylinder is considered. The problem of the nozzle starting and the initiation of detonation combustion is numerically solved with account for the interaction of the outflowing gas with the external supersonic flow. The modeling is based on the gasdynamic Euler equations for an axisymmetric flow. The calculations are carried out using the Godunov scheme on a fine fixed grid which allows one to study in detail the interaction of an oblique shock wave formed in the diffuser with the nozzle axis. It is shown that a central coaxial cylinder ensures the starting with the formation of supersonic flow throughout the entire nozzle and stable detonation combustion of a stoichiometric hydrogen-air mixture in the divergent section of the nozzle.     

Contouring optimal three-dimensional nozzles

The contouring of near-optimal three-dimensional nozzles with subsonic flow regions is considered with reference to certain examples. The contouring is carried out in accordance with the earlier-developed direct optimization technique using the approximation of the surfaces of the objects under consideration by the Bernstein-Bézier polynomials and tested against both the solution of the optimization problem for the supersonic region of an axisymmetric convergent-divergent nozzle and the problem of contouring the supersonic region of a nozzle from the dense multi-nozzle maximum-thrust nozzle cluster. The problems of contouring three-dimensional transonic nozzles of an infrared stealth engine and the three-dimensional nozzle of a high-velocity ramjet are considered. The transonic nozzle optimization is realized within the framework of the Reynolds equations. A modified technique for describing the geometry under consideration using the inhomogeneous Bernstein-Bézier surfaces is proposed to more completely describe the set of the possible shapes.     

Stabilization of detonation combustion in a high-velocity flow of a hydrogen-oxygen mixture

The flow of a hydrogen-oxygen mixture diluted with argon in a supersonic axisymmetric nozzle consisting of an inlet cylinder, a convergent region, a cylindrical throat, and a divergent region is considered. The supersonic flow enters the channel along the axis of symmetry. The flow structure is calculated with allowance for hydrogen ignition. A possibility of stabilizing the combustion zone is studied and the forces acting on the nozzle from the flow are determined. The problem is solved in the two-dimensional approximation with account for detailed combustion kinetics.     

Gas-dynamic design of an axisymmetric tunnel air inlet with isentropic compression

A method of designing a supersonic axisymmetric tunnel air inlet based on the problem of an inverted flow in an annular nozzle with isentropic expansion is considered. The nozzle contour is constructed by the method of characteristics. Parameters of one inlet for viscous and inviscid gas flows are calculated.     

Effect of Streamline Curvature on Intensity of Streamwise Vortices in the Mixing Layer of Supersonic Jets

The structure of supersonic nonisobaric jets with Mach numbers M_a = 1 and 2 is considered experimentally to find the effect of streamline curvature on the evolution of streamwise vortices in the mixing layer. The spatial development of steady streamwise vortices in the mixing layer of supersonic jets is considered. A method for generation of steady streamwise vortices by applying microroughness elements of controlled size onto the inner surface of the nozzle is developed. Radial profiles and azimuthal variations of total pressure are obtained; the mixinglayer thickness and the curvature of streamlines in supersonic jets are determined. A significant effect of microroughness elements of prescribed shape located on the nozzle surface on the behavior of total pressure in the mixing layer of supersonic jets, as compared to natural disturbances, is obtained.     

Supersonic ideal-gas flow of in the throat region of a nozzle

The problem of profiling a supersonic nozzle with uniform outlet flow is considered when the contour is constructed from a point on a given convergent section of the nozzle. It is shown that there are contours such that the flow in the throat is supersonic in choked regimes (as distinct from common notions of mixed or uniform sonic flow). The influence of flow nonuniformity in the throat region on the thrust of a supersonic nozzle is analyzed.Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 132–139, May–June, 1996.     

Investigation of a Gas Flow with Solid Particles in a Supersonic Nozzle

A two-phase flow with high Reynolds numbers in the subsonic, transonic, and supersonic parts of the nozzle is considered within the framework of the Prandtl model, i.e., the flow is divided into an inviscid core and a thin boundary layer. Mutual influence of the gas and solid particles is taken into account. The Euler equations are solved for the gas in the flow core, and the boundary-layer equations are used in the near-wall region. The particle motion in the inviscid region is described by the Lagrangian approach, and trajectories and temperatures of particle packets are tracked. The behavior of particles in the boundary layer is described by the Euler equations for volume-averaged parameters of particles. The computed particle-velocity distributions are compared with experiments in a plane nozzle. It is noted that particles inserted in the subsonic part of the nozzle are focused at the nozzle centerline, which leads to substantial flow deceleration in the supersonic part of the nozzle. The effect of various boundary conditions for the flow of particles in the inviscid region is considered. For an axisymmetric nozzle, the influence of the contour of the subsonic part of the nozzle, the loading ratio, and the particle diameter on the particle-flow parameters in the inviscid region and in the boundary layer is studied. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 46, No. 6, pp. 65–77, November–December, 2005.     

Numerical investigation of gasdynamic features of control jets

Numerical methods, based on first order difference schemes are used to investigate features of three-dimensional subsonic and supersonic flows of an inviscid non-heat-conducting gas in control jets. Elements of the nozzle channels considered are axisymmetric, and flow symmetry arises from the nonaxial feature of the prenozzle volume and the subsonic part of the nozzle, or because of nonaxiality of elements of the supersonic part. In the first case the nozzle includes an asymmetric subsonic region in which reverse-circulatory flow is observed, and in the second case it includes a region of sudden expansion of the supersonic flow from the asymmetric stagnation zone.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii NaukSSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 6, pp. 126–133, November–December, 1978.The authors thank A. N. Kraiko for useful comments and M. Ya. Ivanov for his interest in this work.     

Stability of detonation combustion with respect to the variation in the hydrogen concentration at the supersonic nozzle inlet

Detonation combustion of hydrogen-air mixtures entering an axisymmetric convergent-divergent nozzle at a supersonic velocity is considered. The nozzle geometry does not ensure gas self-ignition; for this reason, forced ignition is used, which, under certain conditions, leads to the formation of stationary detonation combustion in the case of both uniform and nonuniform hydrogen distribution at the channel entry. The nonlinear problem of the stability of these combustion regimes against periodic disturbances of the hydrogen concentration in the oncoming flow is numerically solved. The study is performed on the basis of the two-dimensional gasdynamic Euler equations for a multicomponent reacting gas. A detailed model of chemical reactions is used.     

Calculation of a transport current from a nozzle with two-phase flow in the presence of a corona discharge

The operation of a source of charged aerosol particles which consists of a supersonic nozzle, a corona-forming needle-shaped electrode, and a device for injecting liquid droplets into a gas flow is considered. A theoretical model for two-dimensional, two-phase flow in the nozzle is considered. An algorithm of numerical calculation of such a flow is developed, and results of calculations of the electric transport current from the nozzle are given. Institute of Mechanics, Moscow State University, Moscow 117192. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 39, No. 6, pp. 102–109, November–December, 1998.     

Calculations of axisymmetric jet leaving a nozzle at jet pressure lower than pressure in medium

The problem of discharge of a supersonic axisymmetric jet from a nozzle at a jet pressure less than the pressure in the surrounding medium is considered. A calculation method is presented with account for the subsonic flow downstream of the central shock which forms near the axis of symmetry. Comparison of the results of the computation on a digital computer with the experimental data show the effectiveness of this method for determining the structure of the initial section of such an axisymmetric jet.     

Flow structure at the initial section of a supersonic jet exhausting from a nozzle with chevrons

The spatial structure of the flow in a supersonic underexpanded jet exhausting from a convergent nozzle with vortex generators (chevrons) at the exit is experimentally studied. Exhaustion of a supersonic underexpanded jet from a nozzle with chevrons at the nozzle exit is numerically simulated with the use of the Fluent commercial software package. The experimental and numerical data are demonstrated to be in reasonable agreement. The influence of chevrons on the process of gas mixing is estimated.     

Experimental Investigation of Nozzle Exit Reflector Effect on Supersonic Jet

The present study describes an experimental work to investigate the effect of a nozzle exit reflector on a supersonic jet that is discharged from a convergent–divergent nozzle with a design Mach number of 2.0. An annular reflector is installed at the nozzle exit and its diameter is varied. A high-quality spark schlieren optical system is used to visualize detailed jet structures with and without the reflector. Impact pressure measurement using a pitot probe is also carried out to quantify the reflector’s effect on the supersonic jet which is in the range from an over-expanded to a moderately under-expanded state. The results obtained show that for over-expanded jets, the reflector substantially increases the jet spreading rate and reduces the supersonic length of the jet, compared with moderately under-expanded jets. The reflector’s effect appears more significant in imperfectly expanded jets that have strong shock cell structures, but is negligible in correctly expanded jet.     

Starting of an axisymmetric convergent-divergent nozzle in a hypersonic flow

The starting of an axisymmetric convergent-divergent nozzle, with the result that supersonic flow is formed within almost the entire channel, is modeled, as applied to the hypersonic aerodynamic setup of the Institute of Mechanics of Moscow State University. A successful starting is realized when the nozzle is thrown in a uniform supersonic air flow at a fairly high Mach number. The steady flow structure is studied. It is numerically shown that in the convergent section of the channel there arises an oblique shock wave whose interaction with the nozzle axis leads to the formation of a reflected shock and a curvilinear Mach disk with a region of unsteady subsonic flow in the vicinity of the throat. The mathematical model is based on the two-dimensional Euler equations for axisymmetric gas flows.     

Existence and Stability of Multidimensional Transonic Flows through an Infinite Nozzle of Arbitrary Cross-Sections

We establish the existence and stability of multidimensional steady transonic flows with transonic shocks through an infinite nozzle of arbitrary cross-sections, including a slowly varying de Laval nozzle. The transonic flow is governed by the inviscid potential flow equation with supersonic upstream flow at the entrance, uniform subsonic downstream flow at the exit at infinity, and the slip boundary condition on the nozzle boundary. Our results indicate that, if the supersonic upstream flow at the entrance is sufficiently close to a uniform flow, there exists a solution that consists of a C ^1,α subsonic flow in the unbounded downstream region, converging to a uniform velocity state at infinity, and a C ^1,α multidimensional transonic shock separating the subsonic flow from the supersonic upstream flow; the uniform velocity state at the exit at infinity in the downstream direction is uniquely determined by the supersonic upstream flow; and the shock is orthogonal to the nozzle boundary at every point of their intersection. In order to construct such a transonic flow, we reformulate the multidimensional transonic nozzle problem into a free boundary problem for the subsonic phase, in which the equation is elliptic and the free boundary is a transonic shock. The free boundary conditions are determined by the Rankine–Hugoniot conditions along the shock. We further develop a nonlinear iteration approach and employ its advantages to deal with such a free boundary problem in the unbounded domain. We also prove that the transonic flow with a transonic shock is unique and stable with respect to the nozzle boundary and the smooth supersonic upstream flow at the entrance.     

Flow in a viscous jet escaping through a supersonic nozzle into a semi-infinite ambient space

The problem of an axisymmetric gas flow in a supersonic nozzle and in the jet escaping from the nozzle to a quiescent gas is solved within the framework of Navier-Stokes equations. The calculated pressure distribution is compared with that measured in the jet by a Pitot tube. The influence of the jet pressure ratio, Reynolds number, and half-angle of the supersonic part of the nozzle on nozzle flow and jet flow parameters is studied. It is shown that the distributions of gas-dynamic parameters at the nozzle exit are nonuniform, which affects the jet flow. The flow pattern for an overexpanded jet shows that jet formation begins inside the nozzle because of boundary-layer displacement from the nozzle walls. This result cannot be obtained with the inviscid formulation of the problem.     

Extension of the DSMC method to high pressure flows

A collision-limiter method, designated as equilibrium direct simulation Monte Carlo (eDSMC), is proposed to extend the DSMC technique to high pressure flows. The method is similar to collision-limiter schemes considered in the past with the important distinction that for inviscid flows, equilibrium is enforced in the entire flow by providing a sufficient number of collisions, based on pre-simulation testing. To test the method with standard DSMC and Navier–Stokes (NS) methods, axi-symmetric nozzle and embedded-channel flows are simulated and compared with experimental temperature data and pre-existing calculations, respectively. The method is shown to agree with third-order Eulerian nozzle flows and first-order channel flows. Chapman–Enskog theory is utilized to predict the range of initial conditions where eDSMC is potentially useful for modeling flows that contain viscous boundary layer regions. Comparison with supersonic nozzle data suggests that the eDSMC method is not adequate for capturing the large variation in flow length scales occurring in supersonic expansions into a vacuum. However, when eDSMC is used in combination with the baseline-DSMC method a near-exact solution is obtained with a considerable computational savings compared to the exact DSMC solution. Viscous flow channel calculations are found to agree well with an exact Navier–Stokes (NS) calculation for a small Knudsen number case as predicted by Chapman–Enskog theory.     

Experimental study on mixing enhancement in two dimensional supersonic flow

 Studies on mixing enhancement with two dimensional (2D) lobed nozzle have been conducted in a dual stream supersonic flow facility. The distributions of momentum flux, stagnation pressure and stagnation temperature across a plane at different axial distances from the nozzle exit were considered as a measure of mixing. The results indicated an enormous enhancement in mixing when 2D lobed nozzle was employed in comparison with conventional plain 2D nozzle. The enhanced mixing performance could be attributed to the large scale axial vortices observed in the flow-field of subsonic lobed nozzles by earlier investigators. Received: 27 December 1996 / Accepted: 21 August 1997