Observations on the non-mixed length and unsteady shock motion in a two dimensional supersonic ejector

Abstract

Key features that drive the operation of a supersonic ejector are the complex gasdynamic interactions of the primary and secondary flows within a variable area duct and the phenomenon of compressible turbulent mixing between them, which have to be understood at a fundamental level. An experimental study has been carried out on the mixing characteristics of a two dimensional supersonic ejector with a supersonic primary flow (air) of Mach number 2.48 and the secondary flow (subsonic) which is induced from the ambient. The non-mixed length, which is the length within the ejector for which the primary and secondary flow remain visually distinct is used to characterize the mixing in the ejector. The operating pressures, flow rates and wall static pressures along the ejector have been measured. Two flow visualization tools have been implemented-time resolved schlieren and laser scattering flow visualization. An important contribution has been the development of in-house image processing algorithms on the MATLAB platform to detect the non-mixed length from the schlieren and laser scattering images. The ratio of mass flowrates of the secondary flow to primary flow (entrainment ratio) has been varied in a range of 0.15-0.69 for two locations of the primary nozzle in the ejector duct. Representative cases have been computed using commercial CFD tool (Fluent) to supplement the experiments. Significant outcomes of the study are-the non-mixed length quantified from the flow visualization images is observed to lie within 4.5 to 5.2 times the height of the mixing duct which is confirmed by the wall static pressure profiles. The flow through the supersonic ejector in the mixed regime is explained using corroborative evidences from different diagnostic tools. A reduction of the non-mixed length by 46.7% is observed at operating conditions when the nozzle is sufficiently overexpanded. The disturbance caused to the mixing layer due to unsteady shock-boundary layer interactions within the nozzle at such conditions enhances mixing. The analysis of time resolved schlieren images have provided interesting observations on repetitive back and forth motion of the shock cells in the primary flow with a co-flowing secondary flow in the confines of the supersonic ejector. The oscillations have significant amplitudes (order of the nozzle height) at the centerline. The details of these experiments followed by the analysis of data and the inferences drawn from the results are discussed in this article.