?Lateral? interaction of a supersonic underexpanded ideal-gas jet with surfaces of different shape

Abstract

A numerical investigation is made of the interaction of an underexpanded jet of an inviscid and nonheat-conducting gas issuing from an axisymmetric conical nozzle with plane, cylindrical, and spherical surfaces. It is assumed that the flow turning angle for flow about a barrier is smaller than the critical angle, and subsonic regions are absent in the flow field studied. The effect of the characteristic parameters (Mach number at the nozzle exit, jet underexpansion) on the flow pattern and jet forces is analyzed. The results of numerical calculations are compared to the results of approximate theories and experimental data. A theoretical solution of the problem of the effect of a supersonic jet on a surface of given shape, even in the approximation of an inviscid, nonheat-conducting gas, is quite difficult. A reason for this is that the flow region contains shock waves interacting with each other, contact discontinuities, and zones of mixed sub-and supersonic flow. As far as is known to the authors, the results obtained for three-dimensional problems for the interaction of supersonic jets with each other or with barriers are primarily experimental (for example, [1–6]). A numerical analysis of the interaction of axisymmetric ideal-gas jets was carried out in [7–10]. In [7] a three-dimensional form of the method of characteristics was used to calculate the initial interaction region for two supersonic cylindrical jets (with Mach number M=10) intersecting at an angle of 60‡. The interaction of several jets has been considered in [8, 9], where the solution was obtained according to the Lax—Wendroff method without elimination of the discontinuity lines of flow parameters. In [10] the “lateral” interaction of axisymmetric supersonic jets with each other and with a plate is investigated by means of a straight-through calculation