Transitional behavior of a supersonic flow in a two-dimensional diffuser

Abstract

Two-dimensional blow-down type supersonic wind tunnel was designed and built to investigate the transient behavior of the startup of a supersonic flow from rest. The contour of the divergent part of the nozzle was determined by the MOC calculation. The converging part of the nozzle, upstream of the throat was contoured to make the flow profile uniform at the throat. The flow characteristics of the steady supersonic condition were visualized using the highspeed schlieren photography. The Mach number was evaluated from the oblique shock wave angle on a sharp wedge with half angle of 5 degree. The measured Mach number was 2.4 and was slightly less than the value predicted by the design calculation. The initial transient behavior of the nozzle was recorded by a high-speed digital video camera with schlieren technique. The measured transition time from standstill to a steady supersonic flow was estimated by analyzing the serial images. Typical transition time was approximately 0.1 sec.