Experimental and numerical investigation of flow separation in a supersonic nozzle

The flow in a two-dimensional symmetric convergent-divergent supersonic nozzle with and without a deflector at the exit plane was tested experimentally and numerically. Combined optoelectronic devices were used to demonstrate the possibilities of the shadow and schlieren methods and holographic interferometry for the flow visualization especially in the separation region. A series of experiments was performed in a trisonic wind tunnel (VTI, Beograd). The experimental results obtained using optical methods are compared with the pressure measurements and numerical calculations. Numerical results were obtained using a code for solving the average Navier-Stokes equations. Five structured meshes with different resolutions and two turbulent models were employed. The coupled influence of the mesh resolution and the order of accuracy of the used numerical scheme is analyzed.