Experimental and Numerical Investigations of Flow Confined in a Vertical Missile Launcher

摘要

A supersonic underexpanded round jet issuing from a De Laval nozzle designed for Mach 3 was directed into anU-shaped launcher container. Studies on transient and steady flow in the container were carried out using twondistinct methods. Differential interferometry and particle image velocimetry investigations were conducted to collectnreliable data on high-speed flow inside the container. High-rate visualizations and particle image velocimetrynmeasurements allowed us to capture the incoming shock wave during the transient phase and to determine thenReynolds stress tensor in the container’s plane of symmetry during the steady phase. The measurements werencompared to the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes solution. The effect of confinement, the anisotropy ofnthe Reynolds stresses in the turbulent jet layer, the strong large-scale oscillating and bursting jet behavior, as well asnthe multiple waves at the container exit turned out to be critical points for the unsteady Reynolds-averagednNavier–Stokes method.