Abstract
This article represents the natural continuation of the work by Rossano and De Stefano (2021), dealing with the computational fluid dynamics analysis of a shock wave interaction with a liquid droplet. Differently from our previous work, where a two-dimensional approach was followed, fully three-dimensional computations are performed to predict the aerodynamic breakup of a spherical water body due to the impact of a traveling shock wave. The present engineering analysis focuses on capturing the early stages of the breakup process under the shear-induced entrainment regime. The unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes approach is used to simulate the mean turbulent flow field in a virtual shock tube device with circular cross section. The compressible-flow-governing equations are numerically solved by means of a finite volume method, where the volume of fluid technique is employed to track the air–water interface. The proposed computational modeling approach for industrial gas dynamics applications is verified by making a comparison with reference numerical data and experimental findings, achieving acceptably accurate predictions of deformation and drift of the water body without being computationally cumbersome.
Highlights
The aerodynamic breakup of liquid droplets into smaller fragments induced by the interaction with a passing shock wave (SW) is of crucial importance for many industrial gas dynamics applications [1,2]
The robustness of the present computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and the accuracy of the transient numerical solution of the shock tube problem were assessed through comparison with the corresponding analytical discontinuous solution [24]
It is worth stressing that the above qualitative analysis for the initial stages of the interaction process, in terms of unsteady mean flow variables, is fully consistent with the results provided by more sophisticated high-fidelity numerical simulations performed at the same Mach number [15], as well as the experimental visualizations of the shear-induced entrainment (SIE) phenomenology [37]
Summary
The aerodynamic breakup (aerobreakup) of liquid droplets into smaller fragments induced by the interaction with a passing shock wave (SW) is of crucial importance for many industrial gas dynamics applications [1,2] These include, for example, supersonic combustion air-breathing jet engines (scramjets) and raindrop distortion and demise in the flow field around supersonic aircrafts. A number of experimental studies employing shock tube devices have been carried out, wherein a traveling planar SW is reproduced, with uniform gaseous flow conditions being established [5,6] In these experiments, sophisticated visualization techniques are employed, where the shock front passes over liquid droplets causing their deformation, drift and breakup, due to sudden acceleration
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