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Nonlinear interactions in mixing layers and compressible heated round jets

The nonlinear interactions between a fundamental instability mode and both its harmonics and the changing mean flow are studied using the weakly nonlinear stability theory of Stuart and Watson, and numerical solutions of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations. The first part focuses on incompressible cold (or isothermal; constant temperature throughout) mixing layers, and for these, the first and second Landau constants are calculated as functions of wavenumber and Reynolds number. It is found that the dominant contribution to the Landau constants arises from the mean flow changes and not from the higher harmonics. In order to establish the range of validity of the weakly nonlinear theory, the weakly nonlinear and numerical solutions are compared and the limitation of each is discussed. At small amplitudes and at low-to-moderate Reynolds numbers, the two results compare well in describing the saturation of the fundamental, the distortion of the mean flow, and the initial stages of vorticity roll-up. At larger amplitudes, the interaction between the fundamental, second harmonic, and the mean flow is strongly nonlinear and the numerical solution predicts flow oscillations, whereas the weakly nonlinear theory yields saturation. In the second part, the weakly nonlinear theory is extended to heated (or nonisothermal; mean temperature distribution) subsonic round jets where quadratic and cubic nonlinear interactions are present, and the Landau constants also depend on jet temperature ratio, Mach number and azimuthal mode number. Under exponential growth and nonlinear saturation, it is found that heating and compressibility suppress the growth of instability waves, that the first azimuthal mode is the dominant instability mode, and that the weakly nonlinear solution describes the early stages of the roll-up of an axisymmetric shear layer. The receptivity of a typical jet flow to pulse type input disturbance is also studied by solving the initial value problem and then examining the behavior of the long-time solution.

Jarrah, Yousef Mohd↗

High-Voltage, Asymmetric-Waveform Generator

The shapes of waveforms generated by commercially available analytical separation devices, such as some types of mass spectrometers and differential mobility spectrometers are, in general, inadequate and result in resolution degradation in output spectra. A waveform generator was designed that would be able to circumvent these shortcomings. It is capable of generating an asymmetric waveform, having a peak amplitude as large as 2 kV and frequency of several megahertz, which can be applied to a capacitive load. In the original intended application, the capacitive load would consist of the drift plates in a differential-mobility spectrometer. The main advantage to be gained by developing the proposed generator is that the shape of the waveform is made nearly optimum for various analytical devices requiring asymmetric-waveform such as differential-mobility spectrometers. In addition, this waveform generator could easily be adjusted to modify the waveform in accordance with changed operational requirements for differential-mobility spectrometers. The capacitive nature of the load is an important consideration in the design of the proposed waveform generator. For example, the design provision for shaping the output waveform is based partly on the principle that (1) the potential (V) on a capacitor is given by V=q/C, where C is the capacitance and q is the charge stored in the capacitor; and, hence (2) the rate of increase or decrease of the potential is similarly proportional to the charging or discharging current. The proposed waveform generator would comprise four functional blocks: a sine-wave generator, a buffer, a voltage shifter, and a high-voltage switch (see Figure 1). The sine-wave generator would include a pair of operational amplifiers in a feedback configuration, the parameters of which would be chosen to obtain a sinusoidal timing signal of the desired frequency. The buffer would introduce a slight delay (approximately equal to 20 ns) but would otherwise leave the fundamental timing signal unchanged. The buffered timing signal would be fed as input to the level shifter. The output of the level shifter would serve as a timing and control signal for the high-voltage switch, causing the switch to alternately be (1) opened, allowing the capacitive load to be charged from a high-voltage DC power supply; then (2) closed to discharge the capacitive load to ground. Hence, the output waveform would closely approximate a series of exponential charging and discharging curves (see Figure 2).

Beegle, Luther W.↗