The evolution of interfaces for underwater supersonic gas jets

Abstract

The evolution of interfaces for underwater gas jets is the main morphological manifestation of two-phase unstable interaction. The high-speed transient photographic recording and image post-processing methods are used to obtain the interfacial change in a submerged gaseous jet at different stages after its ejection from the Laval nozzle exit. The relationship between the pressure pulsation in the wake flow field and the interfacial change is further analyzed by combining the experimental results with computational results. A theoretical model is employed to address the competition dominant mechanism of interface instability. The results show that the jet interface of a supersonic gas jet gradually changes from one containing wave structures to a transition structure, and finally forms a steady-state conical jet. The fluctuation of the jet interface results in the pulsation of the back-pressure. The dominant mechanism of the interface changes with the development and distribution of the jet, from Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability beyond the nozzle exit changing to Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) instability in the downstream.