Jet arrays in supersonic crossflow — An experimental study

Abstract

Jet injection into a supersonic crossflow is a classical fluid dynamics problem with many engineering applications. Several experimental and numerical studies have been taken up to analyze the interaction of a single jet with the incoming crossflow. However, there is a dearth of the literature on the interaction of multiple jets with one another and with the crossflow. Jets in a supersonic crossflow are known to produce a three-dimensional bow-shock structure due to the blockage of the flow. Multiple jets in a streamwise linear array interact with both one another and the incoming supersonic flow. In this paper, a parametric study is carried out to analyze the effect of microjet (sub-mm diameter) injection in a Mach 1.5 supersonic crossflow using flow visualization and velocity field measurements. The variation of the microjet orifice diameter and spacing within an array is used to study the three-dimensional nature of the flow field around the jets. The strength of the microjet-generated shock, scaling of the shock wave angle with the momentum coefficient, averaged streamwise, spanwise, and cross-stream velocity fields, and microjet array trajectories are detailed in the paper. It was found that shock angles of the microjet-generated shocks scale with the momentum coefficient for the three actuator configurations tested. As the microjets issue in the crossflow, a pair of longitudinal counter-rotating vortices (CVPs) are formed. The vortex pairs remain coherent for arrays with larger spanwise spacing between the micro-orifices and exhibit significant three-dimensionality similar to that of a single jet in crossflow. As the spacing between the jets is reduced, the CVPs merge resulting in a more two-dimensional flow field. The bow shock resulting from microjet injection also becomes nearly two-dimensional as the spacing between the micro-orifices is reduced. Trajectory estimations yield that microjets in an array have similar penetration as single jets. A notional schematic depicting the interaction of the microjet arrays with the supersonic crossflow is presented summarizing the principal features of the interaction.