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Quantitative visualization of compressible turbulent shear flows using condensate-enhanced Rayleigh scattering

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Abstract

This paper describes several flow visualization experiments carried out in Mach 3 and Mach 8 turbulent shear flows. The experimental technique was based on laser scattering from particles of H2O or CO2 condensate that form in the wind tunnel nozzle expansion process. The condensate particles vaporize extremely rapidly on entering the relatively hot fluid within a turbulent structure, so that a sharp vaporization interface marks the outer edge of the rotational shear layer fluid. Calculations indicate that the observed thin interface corresponds to a particle size of 10 nm or less, which is consistent with optical measurements, and that particles of this size track the fluid motions well. Further, calculations and experiments show that the freestream concentration of condensate required for flow visualization has only a small effect on the wind tunnel pressure distribution. Statistics based on the image data were compared to corresponding results from probe measurements and agreement was obtained in statistical measures of speed, scale, and orientation of the large-scale structures in the shear layer turbulence. The condensate-enhanced Rayleigh scattering technique is judged to be a useful tool for quantitative studies of shear layer structure, particularly for identifying the instantaneous boundary layer edge and for extracting comparative information on the large-scale structures represented there.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the work of several collaborators who do not appear in the list of authors: D. R. Smith carried out the shock generator experiments and the single-pulse Mach 3 boundary layer visualizations, S. Cogne and J. Forkey obtained the double-pulse images of the Mach 3 boundary layer, and W. Konrad and T. Nau performed the simultaneous hotwire/laser scattering experiments. Technical support was provided by R. Bogart, W. Stokes, and P. Howard. This work was funded in part by grants from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Langley Research Center.

This paper is a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aeronautical Sciences Division, Air Vehicles Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, 45433, USA

    J. Poggie & P. J. Erbland

  2. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08544, USA

    A. J. Smits & R. B. Miles

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  1. J. Poggie
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  2. P. J. Erbland
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  3. A. J. Smits
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  4. R. B. Miles
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Correspondence to J. Poggie.

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Poggie, J., Erbland, P.J., Smits, A.J. et al. Quantitative visualization of compressible turbulent shear flows using condensate-enhanced Rayleigh scattering. Exp Fluids 37, 438–454 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-004-0828-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-004-0828-9

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