Numerical and experimental evidence of the Fabri-choking in a supersonic ejector

The purpose of a supersonic ejector consists in the mixing of two fluids with different stagnation pressures in order to obtain a fluid at an intermediate stagnation pressure at the discharge. Depending on the geometry of the ejector and on the operating conditions, the entrained secondary stream may reach sonic/supersonic velocities within the ejector, leading to the capping of the entrained mass flow rate for fixed reservoir conditions. Although the associated limitation of the entrainment ratio (due to choking) is a well known phenomenon, there is still a lack of understanding of the complex flow phenomena at play within supersonic ejectors, and further detailed knowledge and modeling of the choking process is necessary. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the choking phenomenon through advanced post-processing of CFD calculations which are validated with experimental results both at the global and the local scales. This in-depth investigation of the choking phenomenon within the ejector is proposed both qualitatively and quantitatively for given reservoir conditions. The complex flow signature highlighted by means of the numerical results is then investigated and corroborated through experimental shadowgraphy. Studies combining experimental results (including visualizations) with numerical simulations are rather scarce in the open literature and to the knowledge of the authors, this study is the first one that proposes such a detailed analysis. For the present ejector geometry and operating conditions, the choking phenomenology of the secondary stream is found to closely correspond to the model of the Fabri-choking early postulated in Fabri and Siestrunck (1958).