Investigation of an Asymmetrical Shock-Wave Boundary-Layer Interaction in a Supersonic Planar Nozzle

Abstract

When thrust nozzles are designed for high-altitude flight regimes, the propulsive jet is no longer adapted for operation at ground level and at low altitude. Thus, the nozzle operates in over-expanded regime. Unsteadiness due to the boundary layer/shock interactions in the divergent part of the nozzle can produce non-symmetric side loads that can damage the structure. The need for a complete understanding of this phenomenon and the validation of numerical methods and turbulence models able to predict this phenomenon has motivated a basic experiment aimed at producing an exhaustive set of experimental data. The test configuration made up of a rectangular nozzle and set up in a supersonic wind tunnel has allowed us to obtain a non-symmetric interaction whose unsteady aspects have been analyzed. This program was completed by numerical simulations of the flow in its mid-longitudinal symmetry plane. The goal was to test the capabilities of RANS (Reynolds Average Navier–Stokes) calculations in predicting the me...