Numerical Study of Compressible Mixing Layers Using High-Order WENO Schemes

This paper reports high resolution simulations using fifth-order weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) schemes with a third-order TVD Runge-Kutta method to examine the features of turbulent mixing layers. The implementation of high-order WENO schemes for multi-species non-reacting Navier-Stokes (NS) solver has been validated through selective test problems. A comparative study of performance behavior of different WENO schemes has been made on a 2D spatially-evolving mixing layer interacting with oblique shock. The Bandwidth-optimized WENO scheme with total variation relative limiters is found to be less dissipative than the classical WENO scheme, but prone to exhibit some dispersion errors in relatively coarse meshes. Based on its accuracy and minimum dissipation error, the choice of this scheme has been made for the DNS studies of temporally-evolving mixing layers. The results are found in excellent agreement with the previous experimental and DNS data. The effect of density ratio is further investigated, reflecting earlier findings of the mixing growth-rate reduction.