The structure of variable property, compressible mixing layers in binary gas mixtures

Abstract

We present the results of a study of the structure of a parallel compressible mixing layer in a binary mixture of gases. The gases included in this study are hydrogen (H2), helium (He), nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2), neon (Ne) and argon (Ar). Profiles of the variation of the Lewis and Prandtl numbers across the mixing layer for all 30 combinations of gases are given. It is shown that the Lewis number can vary by as much as a factor of 8 and the Prandtl number by a factor of 2 across the mixing layer. Thus assuming constant values for the Lewis and Prandtl numbers of a binary gas mixture in the shear layer, as is done in many theoretical studies, is a poor approximation. We also present profiles of the velocity, mass fraction, temperature and density for representative binary gas mixtures at zero and supersonic Mach numbers. We show that the shape of these profiles is strongly dependent on which gases are in the mixture as well as on whether the denser gas is in the fast stream or the slow stream.