Numerical and Experimental Validation of a Supersonic Mixing Layer Facility

Abstract

The design of a supersonic-supersonic mixing layer facility was motivated by the need for a benchmark experimental platform to study the physical phenomena underlying supersonic mixing layers. The facility is an intermittent blowdown wind tunnel characterized by a two-stream design separated by a splitter plate in the middle of the nozzle. The splitter plate ends exactly at the start of the mixing layer test section. The Mach number of the primary stream is M1 = 3 for all nozzles and the secondary streams are M2 = 2, 2.5, and 2.9 to generate different convective Mach numbers of Mc = 0.25, 0.10, and 0.01, respectively. The facility was calibrated by pressure measurements to verify the Mach number and the pressure distribution in the streamwise direction. Large-eddy simulation (LES) was performed to illustrate a full view of the turbulent compressible mixing layer flow field and to compare this against the experimental data. Optical diagnosis measurements, i.e., femtosecond laser-induced electronic excitation tagging velocimetry (FLEET) for velocity measurement and focused laser differential interferometer (FLDI) for the density fluctuation, were also performed on the facility.