Numerical investigation of second throat exhaust diffuser performance with thrust optimized parabolic nozzles

Abstract

Free or restricted shock separation phenomena can occur inside a thrust optimized parabolic (TOP) nozzle during over-expanded operations. In the case of restricted shock separation, a cap shock pattern forms in the nozzle which leads to a substantial total pressure drop. This induces further related issues in the process of ground testing of such nozzles using a second throat exhaust diffuser (STED). In the present study, the flow physics in several TOP nozzles operating at over-expanded conditions is investigated numerically. At first, the strong effect of the initial expansion angle of a TOP nozzle on flow separation pattern and shock structure is demonstrated. Results reveal that for high initial expansion angles, restricted shock separation occurs even at low nozzle pressure ratios, while free shock separation takes place for small initial expansion angles at even high nozzle pressure ratios. Subsequently, the effect of separation patterns in TOP nozzles on the starting pressure of a STED is studied. Current results show that the presence of a restricted shock separation pattern leads to a considerable increment of the critical cross sectional area of the flow inside the diffuser. Therefore, the minimum starting pressure of the STED is increased up to 30% after the resizing of the second throat area to eliminate the flow choking inside it.