Direct numerical simulation of canonical shock/turbulence interaction

Abstract

A set of direct numerical simulations of isotropic turbulence passing through a nominally normal shock wave is presented. Upstream of the shock, the microscale Reynolds number is 40, the mean Mach number is 1.3–6.0, and the turbulence Mach number is 0.16–0.38. It is shown that the Kolmogorov scale decreases during the shock interaction, which implies that the grid resolution needed to resolve the viscous dissipation is finer than that used in previous studies. This leads to some qualitative differences with previous work, e.g., a rapid increase in the streamwise vorticity variance behind the shock and large anisotropy of the postshock Reynolds stresses. The instantaneous structure of the shock/turbulence interaction is examined using averages conditioned on the instantaneous shock strength. For locally strong compressions, the flow is characterized by overcompression, followed by an expansion. At points where the shock is locally weak, the profiles differ qualitatively depending on the strength of the incoming turbulence relative to the strength of the shock, as measured by the turbulence and mean Mach numbers, respectively. In the wrinkled shock regime, these profiles are discontinuous and the shock has a simple topology. In the broken shock regime, the weak interaction profiles are smooth without any discontinuity.