Numerical Investigation on the three-Dimensional Flowfield in the Single Expansion Ramp Nozzle with Passive Cavity Flow Control

Single Expansion Ramp Nozzle (SERN) with large expansion ratio is normally adopted for the hypersonic aircraft in consideration of integrated aircraft / propulsion system / nozzle design. Under low Mach number and low Nozzle Pressure Ratio (NPR, the ratio of inlet total pressure to outlet static pressure) conditions, the flow in the SERN is a state of severe over-expansion, the internal resistance increased obviously, the flow quality and performance of the SERN sharply deteriorated. How to effectively improve the SERN performance under over-expanded condition has become an important issue in the integrated design of hypersonic propulsion system. The passive cavity flow control technique was introduced on the upper expansion ramp of the SERN in this paper, the three-dimensional flowfield in the passive cavity SERN was investigated numerically, suitable NPR range for passive cavity flow control and impacts of passive cavity parameters were discussed. Results show the SERN performance is effectively improved when the passive cavity is applied from NPR of 5 to 10. Compared with the baseline SERN, 3.13 % improvement can be achieved for the thrust coefficient of the passive cavity SERN when NPR is 5. The passive cavity has the capacity of regulating the induced shock intensity or restraining flow separation, the reason for the change in its function is decided by the relative position between the induced shock and the passive cavity position on the upper expansion ramp of the SERN. As for each function of the passive cavity, an optimum position for the passive cavity structure exists on the upper expansion ramp. Among the primary geometric parameters of the passive cavity structure, percent of porosity is a crucial factor to affect the SERN performance by adjusting separation zone size and its separation starting position, and the improvement effectiveness of the axial thrust coefficient drops with the decrease of percent of porosity. The cavity depth and the aperture size are not sensitive to the performance of passive cavity SERN as compared to the effect of the percent of porosity.