Semi-periodic structures namely inclined wavy structures(IWS) are experimentally observed in compressible mixing layers at two convective Mach numbers(Mc=0.11 and 0.47). Flow structures are visualized by the laserinduced planar laser Mie scattering(PLMS) technique. Two methods are developed to investigate the spatial distribution and geometry of IWS:(1) the dominant mode extraction(DME) method, to extract the dominant modes of IWS from the streamwise gray-level fluctuation, and(2) the phase tracking(PT) method, to identify the shape of IWS. The results suggest that pressure perturbations account for the formation of IWS in the initial mixing region and the joint efect of dilatation and coherent vortices enhances IWS in the welldeveloped region. The large transverse(cross-flow) scale of the IWS and their relation to coherent vortices(CV) indicate that the disturbance originated from CV in the mixing center propagates far into the free streams. The DME and the PT method are shown to be the efective tools to study the geometrical features of wavy structures in compressible shear flows.
Discontinuous Galerkin(DG) method is known to have several advantages for flow simulations,in particular,in fiexible accuracy management and adaptability to mesh refinement. In the present work,the DG method is developed for numerical simulations of both temporally and spatially developing mixing layers. For the temporally developing mixing layer,both the instantaneous fiow field and time evolution of momentum thickness agree very well with the previous results. Shocklets are observed at higher convective Mach numbers and the vortex paring manner is changed for high compressibility. For the spatially developing mixing layer,large-scale coherent structures and self-similar behavior for mean profiles are investigated. The instantaneous fiow field for a three-dimensional compressible mixing layer is also reported,which shows the development of largescale coherent structures in the streamwise direction. All numerical results suggest that the DG method is effective in performing accurate numerical simulations for compressible shear fiows.
Xiao-Tian ShiJun ChenWei-Tao BiChi-Wang ShuZhen-Su She
An experimental study of compressible mixing layers(CMLs)was conducted using planar laser Mie scattering(PLMS)visualizations from condensed ethanol droplets in the flow.Large ensembles of digital images were collected for two flow conditions at convective Mach numbers Mc=0.11 and 0.47.The coherent vortices,braids and eruptions in the mixing zone were observed,interpreted as evidence of multi-scale,three-dimensional structures at a high Reynolds number.The mixing layers with a large visualized range present two stages along the streamwise direction,corresponding to the initial mixing and the well-developed stage.A new method,the gray level ensemble average method(GLEAM),by virtue of the similarity of the mixing layer,was applied to measure the growth rate of the CML thickness.New evidence for a nonlinear growth of CML is reported,providing an interpretation of previous observations of the scattering of the growth rate.
