The effect of turbulent mixing on the moving liquid layer energy conversion into the internal energy of a compressed gas and the character of the gas compression

Abstract

The compression of a planar heated gas layer by a moving liquid layer and the effect of turbulent mixing at the liquid-gas interface on the character of gas compression were experimentally studied. The gas compression by the liquid layer in the deceleration stage is accompanied by development of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability and the turbulent mixing (TM). The liquid fragmentation in the TM zone leads to a sharp increase in the heat transfer from hot gas to liquid. As a result, the gas compression dynamics significantly differs, both quantitatively and qualitatively, from that observed in the case of a solid piston. The dynamics of a liquid layer featuring the TM was compared to that of an analogous layer in the case when the TM development was fully suppressed by increased layer strength. The level of the gas compression by the liquid layer exceeded (by a factor of up to ∼1.5) the compression achieved with a solid piston.