In this experimental investigation the shock structure and shear layer growth in the near field of non-circular supersonic jets impinging orthogonally on a flat surface were studied under two different nozzle expansion ratios (NPRs). The supersonic jets were of triangular and hexagonal cross-sectional shapes with equal area at the nozzle exit. The expansion ratio of all the nozzles used in the experiments was the same at 1.44, with a throat area of 75 mm2. This corresponded to a design exit Mach number of 1.8 for optimum expansion (NPR= 5.87). Experiments were conducted for three different impinging distances (LP) from the nozzle exit plane. The distances in the experiments were 2Dh, 4Dh, and 6Dh, where Dh was the hydraulic diameter of the nozzle exit shape. Experiments were carried out at NPR= 8 and 11(both under expansion conditions) at each impinging distance. Flow visualization of the impinging jet's shock structure was recorded using a Z-type Schlieren system employing concave mirrors which were polished to λ/6. The experiments were repeated for circular jets at the same experimental conditions and the shock structures of both circular and non-circular jets were compared. The shear layer thickness and its variation in the near field were obtained from the image processing of the schlieren images. The impinging distance was observed to have a significant effect on the growth of shear layer via modified shear layer shock interactions in the near field due to the presence of the orthogonal wall and its distance from the nozzle exit. The impinging plate was square in cross-section with a side dimension of 175 mm. The effect of impinging distance on the shock structure was found to be different for circular and non-circular jets. The jet shocks in the impinging jet, the plate shock in the impinging zone and the tail shocks near the high-speed radial wall jet exhibited a varied behavior depending upon the shape of the jet and its impinging distance. Hexagonal and triangular jets did not produce any Mach disk in the near field at shorter impingement distances such as Lp=2Dh. The introduction of the impinging effect and subsequent reduction in Lp decreased the Mach disk distance from the nozzle exit of both shapes, till the Mach disk disappeared at Lp=2Dh. The length of the jet shocks near the nozzle exit also decreased with an increase in Lp for both circular and non-circular shapes. A decrease in Lp impeded the shear layer growth along the jet boundary in the near field for all jet shapes. The triangular jet exhibited a thicker layer along the jet boundary originating from the corner, when compared to the other two jet shapes.
Read full abstract