Investigation of the Flow Structures in Supersonic Free and Impinging Jet Flows

Abstract

A numerical study of compressible jet flows is carried out using Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) turbulence models such as kة› and kد‰SST. An experimental investigation is performed concurrently using highspeed optical methods such as Schlieren photography and shadowgraphy. Numerical and experimental studies are carried out for the compressible impinging at various impinging angles and nozzletowall distances. The results from both investigations converge remarkably well and agree with experimental data from the open literature. From the flow visualizations of the velocity fields, the RANS simulations accurately model the shock structures within the core jet region. The first shock cell is found to be constraint due to the interaction with the bowshock structure for nozzletowall distance less than 1.5 nozzle diameter. The results from the current study show that the RANS models utilized are suitable to simulate compressible free jets and impinging jet flows with varying impinging angles.