Anomalous flow deflection at earth's low-Alfvén-Mach-Number bow shock

Earth's magnetosphere is an obstacle to the supersonic solar wind and the bow shock is formed in the front side of it. In ordinary hydrodynamics, the flow decelerated at the shock is diverted around the obstacle symmetrically about the Earth-Sun line, which is indeed observed in the magnetosheath most of the time. Here we show a case under a very low-density solar wind in which duskward flow was observed in the dawnside magnetosheath. A Rankine-Hugoniot test shows that the magnetic effect is crucial for this "wrong flow" to appear. A full three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulation of the situation confirming this interpretation and earlier simulations is also performed. It is illustrated that in addition to the "wrong flow" feature, various peculiar characteristics appear in the global picture of the MHD flow interaction with the obstacle.     

Self-similar distribution of ion velocity around an obstacle

The ion velocity of Ar plasma is observed around a metallic plate obstacle perpendicularly immersed in a supersonic plasma flow. It is found that the ion velocity also distributes around the obstacle edge self-similarly like the plasma potential and the density.     

Reduction of the sonic boom level in supersonic aircraft flight by the method of surface cooling

Based on the analysis of various aspects of creating a supersonic transport aircraft of the second generation, the necessity of developing unconventional active methods of sonic boom level reduction is demonstrated. Surface cooling is shown to exert a significant effect on formation of the disturbed flow structure up to large distances from the body by an example of a supersonic flow around a body of revolution. A method of reducing the intensity of the intermediate shock wave and excess pressure momentum near the body is proposed. This method allows the length of the reduced (by 50%) sonic boom level to be increased and the bow shock wave intensity in the far zone to be reduced by 12%. A possibility of controlling the process of formation of wave structures, such as hanging pressure shocks arising near the aircraft surface, is demonstrated. The action of the cryogenic mechanism is explained.     

Role of on-board discharge in shock wave drag reduction and plasma cloaking

In the present paper, a physical model is proposed for reducing the problem of the drag reduction of an attached bow shock around the nose of a high-speed vehicle with on-board discharge, to the problem of a balance between the magnetic pressure and gas pressure of plane shock of a partially ionized gas consisting of the environmental gas around the nose of the vehicle and the on-board discharge-produced plasma. The relation between the shock strength and the discharge-induced magnetic pressure is studied by means of a set of one-fluid, hydromagnetic equations reformed for the present purpose, where the discharge-induced magnetic field consists of the electron current (produced by the discharge)-induced magnetic field and the partially ionized gas flow-induced one. A formula for the relation between the above parameters is derived. It shows that the discharge-induced magnetic pressure can minimize the shock strength, successfully explaining the two recent experimental observations on attached bow shock mitigation and elimination in a supersonic flow during on-board discharge [Phys. Plasmas 9 (2002) 721 and Phys. Plasmas 7 (2000) 1345]. In addition, the formula implies that the shock elimination leaves room for a layer of higher-density plasma rampart moving around the nose of the vehicle, being favourable to the plasma radar cloaking of the vehicle. The reason for it is expounded.     

Bow shocks formed by a high-speed laser-driven plasma cloud interacting with a cylinder obstacle

A bow shock is formed in the interaction of a high-speed laser-driven plasma cloud with a cylinder obstacle. Its temporal and spatial structures are observed by shadowgraphy and interferometry. The width of the shock transition region is ～ 50 μm, comparable to the ion–ion collision mean free path, which indicates that collision is dominated in the shock probably. The Mach-number of the ablating plasma cloud is ～ 15 at first, and decreases with time resulting in a changing shock structure. A two-dimension hydrodynamics code, USim, is used to simulate the interaction process. The simulated shocks can well reproduce the observed.     

强激光产生的强磁场及其对弓激波的影响

强激光照射金属线圈后,会在打靶点附近的背景等离子体中诱发冷电子的回流,在金属丝内形成强电流源,从而产生强磁场.本文利用神光II高功率激光器产生的强激光照射金属丝靶,产生了围绕金属丝的环形强磁场.利用B-dot对局域磁感应强度进行了测量,根据测量结果,结合三维模拟程序,反演得到磁场的空间分布.再利用强激光与CH平面靶相互作用产生的超音速等离子体撞击该金属丝,产生了弓激波.通过光学成像手段研究了磁场对冲击波的影响,发现磁场使得弓激波的轮廓变得不明显并且张角变大.同时,通过实验室天体物理定标率,将金属丝表面等离子参数变换到相应的天体参数中,结果证明利用该实验方法可以在实验室中产生类似太阳风的磁化等离子体.     

Investigation of annular supersonic inlets with isentropic compression

A technique for designing the supersonic annular inlets with isentropic deceleration surfaces is considered. The contour of an isentropic supersonic nozzle constructed by the method of characteristics for an inviscid gas flow with given uniform parameters at the inlet and at the outlet is used as the basic configuration of the inlet. The reversed flow of a viscous gas is computed with the aid of numerical techniques in the contour under consideration and the real operational characteristics of the obtained inlet of a fixed geometry are determined in the range of the conditions of its application. In the process of computations, the minimum cross-sectional sizes are selected, which ensure the inlet start without a detached bow shock at the entrance.     

Experimental study on high-energy surface arc plasma excitation control of cylindrical detached shock wave

In this study, an electrical parameter test system and a high-speed Schlieren system are used to study the control of a cylindrical detached shock wave through high-energy surface arc plasma excitation. The results show that, when plasma excitation is not applied, the bow shockwave angle around the cylinder is 52°. After the plasma excitation is applied, the arc discharge releases a large amount of heat within a short time, generating a shockwave and a control gas bulb (CGB). As a result, the bow shockwave angle first decreases and then increases, the pressure ratio before and after the shockwave decreases, and the intensity of the bow shockwave weakens. At t = 280 μs, the bow shockwave angle is reduced to a minimum of 46°. The effective interference time of high-energy surface arc plasma excitation on a cylindrical detached shockwave is 820 μs. A high temperature is used to control the heating effect of the bubbles, which will increase the local sound velocity near the wall, reduce the local Mach number, cause the sound velocity to move online, and eventually push the bow shockwave away from the cylinder. Concurrently, heating will accelerate the gas flow, reduce the pressure, and cause the mass flow in the unit flow area of the heated area to decrease, resulting in a strong compression effect, which deforms the bow shockwave. The high-energy surface arc plasma excitation will provide a potential technical means for high-speed aircraft detached shockwave control.     

Numerical simulations of shock-wave interaction with a boundary layer in the plane supersonic flows with jet injection

A supersonic air flow in a plane channel with a transverse turbulent jet of hydrogen injected through a slot on the bottom wall is simulated. The algorithm for solving the Favre-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for the flow of a perfect multispecies gas on the basis of the WENO scheme is proposed. The main attention is paid to the interaction of the shock-wave structure with the boundary layers on the upper and lower duct walls under the conditions of an internal turbulent flow. Namely, a detailed study of the structure of the flow is done, and separation and mixing depending on the jet slot width are investigated. It is found that in addition to well-known shock-wave structures produced by the interaction of the free stream with the transverse jet and the bow shock interaction with the boundary layers near the walls, an additional system of shock waves and the flow separation arise on the bottom wall downstream at some distance from the jet. The comparison with the experimental data is performed.     

等离子体气动激励机理数值研究

基于介质阻挡与准直流电弧放电的物理过程, 分析了它们的气动激励机理, 建立了各自的气动激励模型, 并分别研究了它们对低速和超声速流动的激励效果. 结果显示: 介质挡板放电等离子体气动激励机理是改变了连续流体中的三种力, 即由牛顿内摩擦引起的剪切应力、由电动力学引起的体积力及由压力突变引起的冲击力, 其中基于电动力学的体积力效应占主导地位; 临近空间环境中体积力的作用效果更强, 诱导速度更大; 超声速来流下准直流电弧放电气动激励机理主要是等离子体的热阻塞效应, 本文所建立的爆炸丝传热模型可以用于仿真其控制激波的过程; 热电弧对于超声速来流而言就像一个具有一定斜坡角度的虚拟突起, 可用于高超声速飞行器前体激波的控制.     

导弹超声速尾退分离干扰特性试验

超/高超声速尾退分离在防热、保形、隐身、多次投放、回收等方面具有明显优势,有望成为高超声速飞行器载荷投放的优选方案。由此面临一类新的多体分离问题：超/高超声速尾退分离问题(aft super/hypersonic ejection separation, ASES)。超/高超声速尾退分离问题本质上是带空腔底部流动与多体分离构成的耦合问题,具有流场结构复杂、气动非定常非线性非对称效应显著的特点。针对超声速尾退分离问题,采用网格测力和轨迹捕获(captive trajectory system, CTS)风洞试验方法探索了尾退分离干扰流场的结构,发现可根据流场结构和舵效变化分为低速-亚声速无激波、高亚声速-跨声速弱激波、超声速激波和准自由流弱干扰4种典型干扰特征,揭示了尾流场影响后不同区域的全弹气动特性和舵效特性以及控制律、攻角、高度和Mach数对分离位移和姿态的影响规律。相关结论将有助于增强对尾退分离问题的认识,对尾退分离技术的工程实践具有参考价值。     

Aerodynamic actuation characteristics of radio-frequency discharge plasma and control of supersonic flow

In this paper, aerodynamic actuation characteristics of radio-frequency(RF) discharge plasma are studied and a method is proposed for shock wave control based on RF discharge. Under the static condition, a RF diffuse glow discharge can be observed; under the supersonic inflow, the plasma is blown downstream but remains continuous and stable.Time-resolved schlieren is used for flow field visualization. It is found that RF discharge not only leads to continuous energy deposition on the electrode surface but also induces a compression wave. Under the supersonic inflow condition, a weak oblique shock wave is induced by discharge. Experimental results of the shock wave control indicate that the applied actuation can disperse the bottom structure of the ramp-induced oblique shock wave, which is also observed in the extracted shock wave structure after image processing. More importantly, this control effect can be maintained steadily due to the continuous high-frequency(MHz) discharge. Finally, correlations for schlieren images and numerical simulations are employed to further explore the flow control mechanism. It is observed that the vortex in the boundary layer increases after the application of actuation, meaning that the boundary layer in the downstream of the actuation position is thickened. This is equivalent to covering a layer of low-density smooth wall around the compression corner and on the ramp surface, thereby weakening the compressibility at the compression corner. Our results demonstrate the ability of RF plasma aerodynamic actuation to control the supersonic airflow.     

Study of density field measurement based on NPLS technique in supersonic flow

Due to the influence of shock wave and turbulence, supersonic density field exhibits strongly inhomogeneous and unsteady characteristics. Applying traditional density field measurement techniques to supersonic flows yields three problems: low spatiotemporal resolution, limitation of measuring 3D density field, and low signal to noise ratio (SNR). A new method based on Nano-based Planar Laser Scattering (NPLS) technique is proposed in this paper to measure supersonic density field. This method measures planar transient density field in 3D supersonic flow by calibrating the relationship between density and concentration of tracer particles, which would display the density fluctuation due to the influence of shock waves and vortexes. The application of this new method to density field measurement of supersonic optical bow cap is introduced in this paper, and the results reveal shock wave, turbulent boundary layer in the flow with the spatial resolution of 93.2 μm/pixel. By analyzing the results at interval of 5 μs, temporal evolution of density field can be observed. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10672178)     

Control of spray spot in cold spray technology. Part 1. Gas dynamic aspects

This paper presents a study of supersonic jets formed by approaches that are new for cold spray technique: the main flow is swirled, the nozzles with permeable profiles and with exit slots on the supersonic section are engineered. The flow swirling achieved in the nozzle prechamber retains downstream to substrate surface. The system of vortices created within the permeable nozzles changes the shock wave features of the overexpanded jet and the geometry of the bow shock wave ahead of the substrate surface. These new features of flow may affect particle motion and particlesubstrate interaction under the conditions of cold spray process; this offers tools for obtaining the necessary shape of a spray spot.     

The characteristics of surface arc plasma and its control effect on supersonic flow

The characteristic of surface arc plasma included millisecond and microsecond actuation in supersonic flow is investigated both experimentally and numerically. In the experiment, the discharge characteristic of surface arc plasma in quiescent air and supersonic flow is recorded. The stable oblique shock could be observed with millisecond actuation. And the unstable compressive wave could be also observed with microsecond actuation. In the numerical investigation, plasma actuation is defined as a source term with input power density from discharge V–I characteristic, which is expected to better describe the influence of heating process. The numerical results are coincident with experimental results. In order to confirm the capability of surface arc plasma actuation to control supersonic flow, experimental investigations on control shock induced by ramp and separation of boundary layer induced by impinging shock are performed. All the results demonstrate the control effect of surface arc plasma actuation onto supersonic flow.     

高能表面电弧放电控制圆柱激波实验

采用风洞实验和高速纹影系统研究高能表面电弧等离子体激励控制圆柱激波. 在Ma=2的超声速风洞中, 分别放置了带有10, 15, 20 mm这3个不同高度圆柱的实验模型, 对比分析了不同高度圆柱的初始流场特征, 以及高能表面电弧放电的放电电容、直流源电压和圆柱高度对圆柱脱体激波控制的影响. 实验结果表明, 高能表面电弧等离子体激励诱导的冲击波和热气团与激波产生相互作用, 激波形状改变, 强度削弱. 圆柱高度越高其上方的弓形激波角越大, 在施加等离子体激励后, 弓形激波角减小, 激波强度减弱; 放电电容和直流源电压对激波控制效果的影响均呈正相关关系; 随着圆柱高度的增加, 控制效果减弱、有效控制作用时间缩短.      

Motional dressed states in a bose-einstein condensate: superfluidity at supersonic speed

We present an exact analytic solution of a nonlinear Schrodinger field interacting with a moving potential (obstacle) at supersonic speed. We discover conditions under which the field can form a stable shape-invariant structure localized around the obstacle-a dressing effect that protects the field against excitations by the obstacle. Such an effect demonstrates the existence of frictionless motion beyond the conventionally defined critical velocity.     

Supersonic flow of a nonequilibrium gas-discharge plasma around a body

The flow of a nonequilibrium gas-discharge plasma around a semicylindrical body is studied. The aim of the study is to see how a change in the degree of nonequilibrium of the incoming plasma changes the separation distance between a shock wave and the body. Experiments are carried out with a supersonic nozzle into which a semicylindrical body is placed. The inlet of the nozzle is connected to a shock tube. In the course of the experiment, electrodes built into the wall of the nozzle initiate a gas discharge in front of the body to produce an additional nonequilibrium ionization in the stationary incoming supersonic flow. The discharge parameters are selected such that the discharge raises the electron temperature and still minimizes heating of the gas. The degree of nonequilibrium of the flow varies with gas-discharge current. Diagnostics of the flow is carried out with a schlieren system based on a semiconductor laser. The system can record flow patterns at definite time instants after discharge initiation.     

Detonation simulations in supersonic flow under circumstances of injection and mixing

The unsteady, reactive Navier-Stokes equations with a detailed chemical mechanism of 11 species and 27 steps were employed to simulate the mixing, flame acceleration and deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) triggered by transverse jet obstacles. Results show that multiple transverse jet obstacles ejecting into the chamber can be used to activate DDT. But the occurrence of DDT is tremendously difficult in a non-uniform supersonic mixture so that it required several groups of transverse jets with increasing stagnation pressure. The jets introduce flow turbulence and produce oblique and bow shock waves even in an inhomogeneous supersonic mixture. The DDT is enhanced by multiple explosion points that are generated by the intense shock wave focusing of the leading flame front. It is found that the partial detonation front decouples into shock and flame, which is mainly caused by the fuel deficiency, nevertheless the decoupled shock wave is strong enough to reignite the mixture to detonation conditions. The resulting transverse wave leads to further mixing and burning of the downstream non-equilibrium chemical reaction, resulting in a high combustion temperature and intense flow instabilities. Additionally, the longitudinal and transverse gradients of the non-uniform supersonic mixture induce highly dynamic behaviors with sudden propagation speed increase and detonation front instabilities.     

Disappearance of holographic and interference fringes accompanies optical diagnostics of a supersonic bow shock flow

Preliminary results of optical diagnostics of bow shocks in a supersonic wind tunnel by applying dual-hologram shear interferometry technique are discussed. A strong refraction effect of the probing beam penetrating a region in the vicinity of a bow shock over a blunt nose cone model has been discovered. On a signal hologram the effect leads to the disappearance of holographic fringes in a narrow region attached to the shock wave front. A reconstructed interferogram in this region manifests the absence of an interference pattern.Computer simulations were performed for a part of the probing beam penetrating the area of high-density steep gradients of compressed air attached to the central part of the shock front of a bow shock. The compressed area was modeled as a hyperbolic cap. The bow shock was assumed axisymmetric. The simulations made it possible to evaluate angles of deflections and found conformity with reconstructed interferograms (shadowgraphs).It is concluded that in the above-indicated region of bow shocks probing light is deviated refractively into some angles, which could be large enough for light rays to be blocked out and never arrive at the detector (photo film). In the case when interferometric fringes disappear, the effect of strong refraction makes it impossible to measure air density gradients in some critical region.