Hybrid Reynolds-Averaged/Large-Eddy Simulations of a Coaxial Supersonic Freejet Experiment

Reynolds-averaged and hybrid Reynolds-averaged/large-eddy simulations have been applied to a supersonic coaxial jet flow experiment. The experiment was designed to study compressible mixing flow phenomenon under conditions that are representative of those encountered in scramjet combustors. The experiment utilized either helium or argon as the inner jet nozzle fluid, and the outer jet nozzle fluid consisted of laboratory air. The inner and outer nozzles were designed and operated to produce nearly pressure-matched Mach 1.8 flow conditions at the jet exit. The purpose of the computational effort was to assess the state-of-the-art for each modeling approach, and to use the hybrid Reynolds-averaged/large-eddy simulations to gather insight into the deficiencies of the Reynolds-averaged closure models. The Reynolds-averaged simulations displayed a strong sensitivity to choice of turbulent Schmidt number. The initial value chosen for this parameter resulted in an over-prediction of the mixing layer spreading rate for the helium case, but the opposite trend was observed when argon was used as the injectant. A larger turbulent Schmidt number greatly improved the comparison of the results with measurements for the helium simulations, but variations in the Schmidt number did not improve the argon comparisons. The hybrid Reynolds-averaged/large-eddy simulations also over-predicted the mixing layer spreading rate for the helium case, while under-predicting the rate of mixing when argon was used as the injectant. The primary reason conjectured for the discrepancy between the hybrid simulation results and the measurements centered around issues related to the transition from a Reynolds-averaged state to one with resolved turbulent content. Improvements to the inflow conditions were suggested as a remedy to this dilemma. Second-order turbulence statistics were also compared to their modeled Reynolds-averaged counterparts to evaluate the effectiveness of common turbulence closure assumptions.