Effects of compressibility on the characteristics of free shear layers

Abstract

A high Reynolds number two-dimensional constant pressure compressible shear layer was formed at the trailing edge of an 0.5 mm-thick splitter plate. Convective Mach numbers of 0.51 and 0.64 were investigated using a two-component coincident LDV for the measurements. For the lower convective Mach number case, the nondimensionalized shear-layer and vorticity thickness growth rates were over 20 percent higher and the momentum thickness growth rate was over 30 percent higher than those of the higher convective Mach number case. The results seen to indicate that both small scale and large scale mixing are reduced with increasing convective Mach number.