Viscous Non-adiabatic Laminar Flow through a Supersonic Nozzle: Experimental Results and Numerical Calculations

Flow and thermal regimes found in relatively low Reynolds-number flows of high-temperature gases in cooled convergent divergent nozzles used in propulsion systems and in research facilities are investigated by a combined experimental and numerical approach. The experiments were conducted with argon at temperatures up to 14,200 deg R, and the throat Reynolds number ranged from 2200 to 2800. The numerical calculations involved the laminar-flow equations in differential form. Taken together, the experiments and the numerical calculations provide information on the pressure, heat-flux, and shear-stress distributions along internal flows with heat transfer, and on the velocity and enthalpy distributions across the flow as well as along the flow. The influence of heat conduction and of the viscous shear extended to the centerline all along the nozzle.