Supersonic gas-particle two-phase flow around a sphere

Abstract

This paper describes supersonic flows of a gas-particle mixture around a sphere. The Euler equations for a gas-phase interacting with a particle one are solved by using a TVD (Total Variation Diminishing) scheme developed by Chakravarthy & Osher, and the particle phase is solved by applying a discrete particle-cloud model. First, steady two-phase flows with a finite loading ratio are simulated. By comparing in detail the dusty results with the dust-free ones, the effects of the presence of particles on the flow field in the shock layer are clarified. Also an attempt to correlate the particle behaviours is made with universal parameters such as the Stokes number and the particle loading ratio. Next, non-steady two-phase flows are treated. Impingement of a large particle-cloud on a shock layer of a dust-free gas in front of a sphere is numerically simulated. The effect of particles rebounded from the sphere is taken into account. It is shown that a temporal reverse flow region of the gas is induced near the body axis in the shock layer, which is responsible for the appearance of the gas flow region where the pressure gradient becomes negative along the body surface. These phenomena are consistent with the previous experimental observations. It will be shown that the present results support a flow model for the particle-induced flow field postulated in connection with ‘heating augmentation’ found in the heat transfer measurement in hypersonic particle erosion environments. The particle behaviour in such flows is so complicated that it is almost impossible to treat the particle phase as an ordinary continuum medium.