A study of inviscid, supersonic mixing layers using a second-order TVD scheme

Abstract

Direct numerical simulations are peerformed to investigate several aspects of ideal-gas, inviscid, twodimensional, temporally-growing, high speed mixing layers: stability, dynamics, and interaction between shocks and vortical structures. Agreement with experimental results indicates that tlie growth rate of a mixing layer decreases as the Mach number increases. Eddy shocklets are captured and found to rotate in the opposite direction to the rotation of the local large structure. Depending on the instability growth and incoming vorticity strength, these eddy shocklets are further found to produce counter-rotating vorticity which operates at a smaller level than the large structure. Turbulent stress analysis shows that eddy shocklets are indeed a very efficient mechanism of transforn~ing mean flow energy to fluctuating energy.