Switching mechanism investigation for the supersonic jet element: Deflection, attachment and adjustment stages

Abstract Based on the unsteady viscous flow simulation, the flow characteristics inside the supersonic jet Element have been investigated numerically. The results have revealed that once the specific structures of the supersonic jet element are finalized, even if the boundary conditions remain unchanged, the corresponding internal flow will also shows strong unsteady in a certain range of primary gas source pressure. The instability of the main vortex center is a main reason to make the output thrust of the supersonic jet components fluctuate all the time in the attached wall condition. At the deflection of the jet stage, once the static pressure for the right side of the wedge exceeds the left side, the transverse expansion for the stripping zone near the right output channel entrance can play a significant role in making the primary jet deflect successfully. When the jet starts to attach the wall layer, due to the “Coanda” effect, the jet also can attach the layer successfully even though the corresponding control flow is totally closed. When the jet enters the adjustment stage, the thrust changes process for the left and right outputs will experience two typical stages: adjusting and adjusted stages. The corresponding vortex structures at different switching time together with the force variations etc. inside the jet Element have been obtained computationally and analyzed in details.