Numerical study on Rayleigh-Taylor effect on cylindrically converging Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

Evolution of a two-dimensional air/SF6 single-mode interface is numerically investigated by an upwind CE/SE method under a cylindrically converging circumstance. The Rayleigh-Taylor effect caused by the flow deceleration on the phase inversion(RTPI)is highlighted. The RTPI was firstly observed in our previous experiment, but the related mechanism remains unclear. By isolating the three-dimensional effect, it is found here that the initial amplitude(a0), the azimuthal mode number(k0) and the re-shocking moment are the three major parameters which determine the RTPI occurrence. In the variable space of(k0, a0), a critical a0 for the RTPI occurrence is solved for each k0, and there exists a threshold value of k0 below which the RTPI will not occur no matter what a0 is. There exists a special k0 corresponding to the largest critical a0, and the reduction rule of critical a0 with k0 can be well described by an exponential decay function. The results show that the occurrence of the RTPI requires a small a0 which should be less than a critical value, a large k0 which should exceed a threshold, and a right impinging moment of the re-shock which should be later than the RTPI occurrence. Finally, the effects of the incident shock strength, the density ratio and the initial position of the interface on the threshold value of k0 and on the maximum critical a0 are examined. These new findings would facilitate the understanding of the converging Richtmyer-Meshkov instability and would be helpful for designing an optimal structure of the inertia confinement fusion capsule.

Effect of Martian atmosphere on aerodynamic performance of supersonic parachute two-body systems

Supersonic flows around parachute two-body systems are numerically investigated by solving the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. In the present study, both rigid and flexible parachute models are considered, which comprise a capsule and a canopy. The objective of the present study is to investigate the effects of the Martian atmosphere on the unsteady flows produced by these parachute two-body models and the structural behavior of the flexible canopy. It was found that in the Martian atmosphere, the supersonic rigid parachutes with shorter trailing distances exhibited weaker aerodynamic interactions between the capsule wake and canopy shock, resulting in a smaller pressure distribution on the typical surfaces of the canopy. By contrast, because the flow modes around the flexible parachute in the Martian atmosphere were similar to those of the rigid parachute under the air conditions of the wind tunnel tests, the canopy shape was almost unchanged. When a new canopy material was designed by decreasing the Young’s modulus and damping coefficient, an area oscillation phenomenon was observed in the flexible parachute with a trailing distance of 10 in the Martian atmosphere. Consequently, the Martian atmosphere(low density and pressure) has a significant effect on the aerodynamic performance of the flexible parachute system.

Theoretical investigation of shock stand-off distance for non-equilibrium flows over spheres

We derived a theoretical solution of the shock stand-off distance for a non-equilibrium flow over spheres based on Wen and Hornung＇s solution and Olivier＇s solution. Compared with previous approaches, the main advantage of the present approach is allowing an analytic solution without involving any semi-empirical parameter for the whole non-equilibrium flow regimes. The effects of some important physical quantities therefore can be fully revealed via the analytic solution. By combining the current solution with Ideal Dissociating Gas（IDG） model, we investigate the effects of free stream kinetic energy and free stream dissociation level（which can be very different between different facilities） on the shock stand-off distance.