Innovative Transverse Jet Interaction Arrangements in Supersonic Crossflow

The experiments on this project proceeded on the premise that adding an array of auxiliary jets behind a main jet injector would alleviate the large region of low pressure typically found downstream of a normal, sonic injector in supersonic flow and also possibly increase in intensity of the upstream high-pressure region. The secondary jet would, in theory, "push" the primary jet further into the flow, increasing the size of the obstacle as seen by the flow. The resulting increased high pressure upstream of the flow would increase the force on the body. Also, the presence of secondary jets would reduce the intensity of the primary jet's low-pressure region. These results would be beneficial to increase the force and decrease the nose-down moment associated with sonic, normal injection into a supersonic crossflow. Therefore, in application to hypersonic, high-altitude missile maneuvering, the firing of a thruster with such an array would result in both added force and a reduction of the moment usually associated with the pressure field on the missile. Such an array could allow the missile to perform purely translational maneuvers with less fuel, all the while keeping the target in view. To accomplish this task, some modern missiles use a second injector far downstream from the primary injector. This second injector's primary function is to negate the nose-down moment, and it adds little to the overall jet effectiveness.

To this end, two sets of experiments were conducted: one with low jet pressure ratio, Poj/P1 = 13.65, and low Mach number of 2.4 with Po,inf = 3.74 atm and To,inf = 293K for proof of concept and one at primary conditions Poj/P1 = 620, M1 = 4, Po,inf = 10.21 atm, To,inf = 293K. Spark Shadowgraphs were taken at both of these cases to study the structures present in the flow field and to qualitatively assess the effects of the secondary jet injectors. Placed under the Mach disk of the main jet, the secondary jets are hypothesized to push the plume of the main jet further up into the flow, increasing the force on the plate, and Shadowgraphs were used to test this hypothesis. Schlieren pictures were taken at the high M1, high-pressure ratio test case to further study the interaction of the secondary jets with the main jet. Pressure Sensitive Paint, PSP, was used in both cases to gain a greater understanding of the surface pressure near the injectors for different jet configurations. It was discovered that the addition of secondary jets could indeed both increase the force generated by the main jet and reduce the undesirable nose-down moment created by the main jet.

In the low M1, low pressure ratio conditions, the addition of one pair of jets manipulated the surface pressure such that the force on the plate increased by 17% and the nose-down moment was increased by 9% over the main jet only case. The further addition of one more pair of injectors increased the surface pressure force on the plate by 34% and increased the nose-down moment on the plate by 3% when compared to the Main Jet Only case. It is important to note that, these increases are due solely to the manipulation of the surface pressure force field and not the thrust of the secondary jets. The added thrust would increase the force on the plate and their position would insure an increase of a nose-up moment. One pair of secondary jets increases the injectant mass flow by about 2.3%. Therefore, the effects reported above are seen to be disproportionate to the amount of added injectant.

For the primary test conditions (M1 = 4, Poj/P1 = 620, Po = 10.21 atm, To = 293K) the addition of two pairs of secondary jets had a force increase of 62% and a nose-down moment decrease of 38% over that of the main jet only case. Three pairs increased the force 71% and the decreased the nose-down moment by 26% and four pairs increased the force 91% but increased the nose-down moment by 33%. These values do not account for the thrust of the secondary jets. Accounting for the beneficial effects of the thrust of the secondary jets, the force on the plate for two pairs of secondary jets increased the force 70% and decreased the moment 42%. Three pairs increased the force 83% and decreased the moment 35%. The increase of force for four pairs of secondary jets was 106% and the increase in nose-down moment was only 21%. A point of diminishing returns was reached. As more pairs of injectors are added further and further from the main injector, the beneficial force effects are offset by a growing moment penalty. By considering the locations of the secondary injectors to the main injector for both the low Mach number, low-pressure ratio tests and the main tests conditions, it can be surmised that the greatest benefit from the secondary jets can be extracted when the jets are placed within the main injector's downstream low-pressure region.