Investigating Shear-Layer Instabilities in Supersonic Impinging Jets Using Dual-Time Particle Image Velocimetry

Flow unsteadiness in supersonic impinging jets due to the aeroacoustic feedback can lead to practical problems like ground erosion in short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft, high noise levels, and high unsteady structural loading. The shear-layer instabilities of the jet play an important role in the flow dynamics. A full study of these instabilities requires time-resolved measurements of the flow velocity field. However, experimentally obtaining time-resolved velocity fields, derived from particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques, has its challenges in high-speed flow applications due to the simultaneous requirement of high spatial and temporal resolution. A novel approach is presented in this paper, which uses time-unresolved dual-time digital PIV coupled with dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) analysis (DT-DPIV-DMD) of the velocity field pairs and applies it to study the dynamics of the shear-layer instabilities in supersonic impinging jets. DT-DPIV-DMD involves the acquisition of a pair of instantaneous velocity fields separated by a small time delay using two covisual PIV systems. The time delay must be sufficiently small to provide the necessary bandwidth to capture all the relevant dynamics of the flow being investigated. This is followed by DMD analysis of all acquired digital PIV velocity field pairs. A large-eddy simulation of an underexpanded impinging jet at Reynolds number 60,000, with nozzle-to-wall distance h/d=5 was first used to investigate the required measurement scales for the application of DT-DPIV-DMD. Using the optimum measurement scales, the technique was then experimentally demonstrated using DT-DPIV-DMD for two supersonic impinging jets cases and validated with acoustic measurements.

Automated summary

Flow unsteadiness in supersonic impinging jets can cause practical issues such as ground erosion and high noise levels. Studying shear-layer instabilities requires time-resolved measurements of flow velocity fields, which can be challenging in high-speed flow applications. A novel approach using time-unresolved dual-time digital PIV coupled with dynamic mode decomposition analysis is being applied to investigate the dynamics of shear-layer instabilities in supersonic impinging jets.