Mixing studies of helium in air at high supersonic speeds
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Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Mays, R. B..
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Concentration and mean flow measurements with nanoshadowgraphs and surface flow visualization have been obtained by a study of mixing phenomena during gas injection into hypersonic flow. At Mach 6, a comparison of the matched-pressure injection case with the underexpanded case indicated a greater injectant core penetration rate and a greater concentration-decay rate, leading to a shorter distance for the injectant core to reach an H2-air stoichiometric ratio. The entire injectant plume remained supersonic, and only moderate pressure losses were found. While injector yaw did not increase the mixing rates, it led to an increase in overall injectant plume cross-section, with consequent increase in the size of the mixing region.
A study of helium jets injected into a Mach 3 airflow through circular sonic nozzles angled downstream at 15 and 30 deg is presented. An aspirating hot-film probe was employed to measure helium concentrations. The results of Schlieren and nonoshadowgraph photography show the presence of large-scale turbulent structures in the high pressure jets. Concentration data reveal some asymmetries both in the cross section of the jet and in the trajectory of the jet relative to the centerline of the jet. Plotting the decay of maximum concentration with axial distance, it is found that the mixing rate can be increased significantly by increasing the pressure ratio. These low angle jets display good cross-stream penetration.