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Compared to the conventional axisymmetric dual throat nozzle, the axisymmetric divergent dual throat nozzle (ADDTN) can offer larger thrust vector angles. However, the starting problem maybe exists in the ADDTN and results in a huge thrust loss. In this paper, the ADDTN starting problem has been studied by steady and unsteady numerical simulations. The effects of nozzle geometric parameters on internal nozzle performance have been discussed in detail, including cavity divergence angle, cavity convergence angle, cavity length, expansion ratio, rounding radius at the nozzle throat, and rounding radius at the cavity bottom. And, the shock oscillation phenomenon is found inside the recessed cavity in some high-expansion ratio configurations. In addition, a bypass is proposed in this study to solve the ADDTN starting problem. The main numerical simulation results show that the expansion ratio is the most sensitive parameter affecting the starting characteristic of ADDTN, followed by the cavity divergence angle and the cavity length. And, among these parameters, the parameters of cavity convergence angle and rounding radius at the cavity bottom contribute the least to the starting problem. Besides, the ADDTN configurations of large rounding radius at the nozzle throat tend to start.

The dual throat nozzle achieves higher thrust vectoring efficiencies and lesser thrust loss than other fluidic thrust-vectoring nozzles. Separation always occurs at the bottom of the cavity with complex three-dimensional characteristics for the dual throat nozzle. In this paper, by comparing the flow structure, nozzle surface static pressure distributions and skin friction lines, which are obtained by numerical simulations and wind tunnel experiments, an axisymmetric divergent dual throat nozzle is investigated in detail. The main results show the following findings. (1) The experimental schlieren photographs confirm again that the divergent nozzle configuration has the starting problem from an intuitive perspective. Meanwhile, the flow structure and nozzle surface static pressure distributions obtained by numerical simulations are consistent with the experimental results, except for the low nozzle pressure ratios. (2) The circumferential pressure difference is negligible upstream of the separation line but obvious downstream of the separation line. The skin friction lines and nozzle surface static pressure distributions of different circumferential angles obtained by experiments both prove that the actual flow in the axisymmetric divergent dual throat nozzle indeed possesses three-dimensional characteristics. Therefore, it is necessary to utilize the full three-dimensional computational domain to study the complex three-dimensional characteristics of the flow for the axisymmetric divergent dual throat nozzle thoroughly.

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Supersonic axisymmetric expansion flow is a typical and fundamental issue in gas dynamics. It plays a vital role in the high-speed external and internal flow fields regarding the contour design and performance evaluation of supersonic/hypersonic vehicles and their propulsion systems. The supersonic two-dimensional (2D) planar expansion flow is dominated by the well-known Prandtl–Meyer (P–M) theory. However, no similar explicit relation exists for the supersonic axisymmetric expansion flow, and only the computational fluid dynamics results could be employed at present. Therefore, this work focuses on developing the analytical solution of supersonic axisymmetric flow around a sharp convex corner on the basis of the generic gasdynamic functions in a newly established coordinate system for addressing the aforementioned issue. Theoretical derivations and numerical results prove that the flow deflection angle and Mach number in supersonic axisymmetric flow around a sharp convex corner obey the identical law to the 2D planar situation, that is, the P–M theory, while the local axisymmetric expansion fan is not the simple wave flow despite the conical flow. Meanwhile, the method of characteristics is employed to further explicate the intrinsic connection and difference between the 2D and axisymmetric sharp convex corner flow. The equivalence of sharp corner and curved surface flows with the identical deflection angle is discussed, and three limitations of the proposed analytical solution are clarified.