Design of a double parabolic supersonic nozzle and performance evaluation by experimental and numerical methods

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to design a double parabolic nozzle and to compare the performance with conventional nozzle designs. Design/methodology/approach The throat diameter and divergent length for Conical, Bell and Double Parabolic nozzles were kept same for the sake of comparison. The double parabolic nozzle has been designed in such a way that the maximum slope of the divergent curve is taken as one-third of the Prandtl Meyer (PM) angle. The studies were carried out at Nozzle Pressure Ratio (NPR) of 5 and also at design conditions (NPR = 3.7). Experimental measurements were carried out for all the three nozzle configurations and the performance parameters compared. Numerical simulations were also carried out in a two-dimensional computational domain incorporating density-based solver with RANS equations and SST k-ω turbulence model. Findings The numerical predictions were found to be in reasonable agreement with the measured experimental values. An enhancement in thrust was observed for double parabolic nozzle when compared with that of conical and bell nozzles. Research limitations/implications Even though the present numerical simulations were capable of predicting shock cell parameters reasonably well, shock oscillations were not captured. Practical implications The double parabolic nozzle design has enormous practical importance as a small increase in thrust can result in a significant gain in pay load. Social implications The thrust developed by the double parabolic nozzle is seen to be on the higher side than that of conventional nozzles with better fuel economy. Originality/value The overall performance of the double parabolic nozzle is better than conical and bell nozzles for the same throat diameter and length.