Flow control via instabilities, vortices and steady structures under the action of external microwave energy release

Abstract

The details of flow dynamics during the interaction of a microwave filament (regarded as heated rarefied channel) with an aerodynamic body in supersonic flow are considered. Flow control via the effect on the frontal drag force is discussed. The mechanisms of the drag force reduction for a symmetrically located filament and temporary drag force enhancement for an asymmetrically located filament are established. These mechanisms are attributable to the vortex structures forming via the instabilities in front of the body and inside the shock layer. Three kinds of flow instabilities inside the shock layer are analyzed numerically. These are the Richtmeyer–Meshkov instability, the shear layer instability of Kelvin–Helmholtz type and the instability of a flat-parallel tangential discontinuity. The last instability is shown to be accompanied by generation of steady flow structures. A comparative analysis of the resultant vortices and structures is conducted. Limited length and infinite length filaments are considered. The flowfields are investigated for freestream Mach numbers equal to 1.89 and 3, and a wide range of filament characteristics.

Joule heating flow control methods for high-speed flows

“…The rarified channel is set to have the same static pressure and velocity as the rest of the domain thus, based on the ideal gas law, the temperature is increased due to the lower density. This methodology has been used in a number of studies by Azarova et al [138][139][140] This study also went some way to validate the results of the computations by comparing them to experimental results of Lashkov et al, 130 however this was limited to the generated microwave filament and not its effects on the flow.…”

Control of Triple-Shock Configurations and Vortex Structures Forming in High Speed Flows of Gaseous Media past an AD Body under the Action of External Energy Sources

“…Effects of a local heating on wave drag reduction were investigated in [12][13][14]. Additionally, it has been stated that the triple-shock configurations accompanied by the vortex-contact structures were generated at the beginning stage of the process of energy release-shock layer interaction when the flow mode is close to the self-similar one [15][16][17].…”