rane Converging Diverging Nozzle Nozzle Applet Run the Applet | Source Code Instructions Introduction The purpose of this applet is to simulate the operation of a converging-diverging nozzle, perhaps the most important and basic piece of engineering hardware associated with propulsion and the high speed flow of gases, This device was invented by Carl de Laval toward the end of the 9th century and is thus often referred to as the ‘de Laval nozzle. This applet is intended to help students of compressible aerodynamics visualize the flow through this type of nozzle at a range of conditions. Technical Background The usual configuration for a converging diverging (CD) nozzle is shown in the figure. Gas flows through the nozzle fiom a region of high pressure (usually referred to as the chamber) to one of low pressure (referred to as the ambient or tank). ‘The chamber is usvally big enough so that any flow velocities here are negligible. The pressure here is denoted by the symbol p,..Gas flows from the chamber into the converging portion of the nozzle, past the throat, through the diverging portion and then exhausts into the ambient as a jet. The pressure of the ambient is referred to as the ‘back pressure’ and given the symbol py, Converging Section Diverging Seation Back pressure py | as Ambient/Tank Chamber Nozzle Jet Figure 1. Converging Diverging Nozzle Configuration A simple example To get a basic feel for the behavior of the nozle imagine performing the simple experiment shown in figure 2. wv ongappots. veduluids/COnozzefedinto:niml 8rane Converging Diverging Nozzle Here we use a converging diverging nozzle to connect two air cylinders. Cylinder A contains air at high pressure, and takes the place of the chamber. The CD nozzle exhausts this air into cylinder B, which takes the place of the ‘ Gi iB» Imagine you are controlling the pressure in cylinder B, Nozzle and measuring the resulting mass flow rate through the nozzle. You may expect that the lower you make the pressure in B the more mass flow youll get through the nozzle. This is true, but only up to a point. If you lower the back pressure enough you come to a place where the flow rate suddenly stops increasing all together and it doesn't matter how much lower you make the back Mass jlow pressure (even if you make ita vacuum) you can't get 7242 thre nozzle any more mass flow out of the nozzle. We say that the Choked nozzle has become ‘choked’. You could delay this behavior by making the nozzle throat bigger (e.g. grey line) but eventually the same thing would happen. ‘The nozzle will become choked even if you eliminated the 1 PP 05 throat altogether and just had a converging nozzle. (decreasing) The reason for this behavior has to do with the way the Figure 2. A simple experiment flows behave at Mach 1, ie. when the flow speed reaches the speed of sound. In a steady internal flow (like a nozzle) the Mach number can only reach 1 at a minimum in the cross-sectional area. When the nozzle isn't choked, the flow through it is entirely subsonic and, ifyou lower the back pressure a litle, the flow goes faster and the flow rate increases. As you lower the back pressure further the flow speed at the throat eventually reaches the speed of sound (Mach 1). Any further lowering of the back pressure can't accelerate the flow through the nozzle any more, because that would entail moving the point where M=1 away ffom the throat where the area is a minimum, and so the flow gets stuck. The flow pattern downstream of the nozzle (in the diverging section and jet) can still change if'you lower the back pressure further, but the mass flow rate is now fixed because the flow in the throat (and for that matter in the entire converging section) is now fixed too. The changes in the flow pattem after the nozzle has become choked are not very important in our thought experiment because they don't change the mass flow rate. They are, however, very important however if you were using this nozzle to accelerate the flow out ofa jet engine or rocket and create propulsion, or if you just want to understand how high-speed flows work. wv ongappots. veduluids/COnozzefedinto:niml 218rane Converging Diverging Nozzle ‘Ambient chambe) Throat Le Met é Flowdecelerating st Flow acostergting wen The flow pattem Figure 3a shows the flow through the nozzle when it is completely subsonic (ie. the nozzle isn't choked). The flow accelerates out of the chamber through the converging section, reaching its maximum (subsonic) speed at the throat, The flow then decelerates through the diverging section and exhausts into the ambient as a subsonic jet. Lowering the back pressure in this state increases the flow speed everywhere in the nozzle, Lower it far enough and we eventually get to the situation shown in figure 3b, The flow pattem is exactly the same as in subsonic flow, except that the flow speed at the throat has just reached Mach 1. Flow through the nozzle is now choked since further reductions in the back pressure can't move the point of M=1 away fiom the throat, However, the flow pattem in the diverging section does change as you lower the back pressure further As pp is lowered below that needed to just choke the flow a region of supersonic flow forms just downstream of the throat. Unlike a subsonic flow, the supersonic flow accelerates as the area gets bigger. This region of supersonic acceleration is terminated by a normal shock wave. The shock wave produces a near-instantaneous deceleration of the flow to subsonic speed. This subsonic flow then decelerates through the remainder of the diverging section and exhausts as a subsonic jet, In this regime if you lower or raise the back pressure you increase or decrease the length of supersonic flow in the diverging section before the shock wave. Ifyou lower p enough you can extend the supersonie region all the way down the nozzle until the shock is sitting at the nozzle exit (gure 3d). Because you have a very long region of acceleration (the entire nozele length) in this case the flow speed just before the shock will be very large in this case. However, after the shock the flow in the jet will stil be subsonic. Lowering the back pressure further causes the shock to bend out into the jet (figure 3e), and a complex pattem of shocks and reflections is set up in the jet which will now involve a mixture of subsonic and wv ongappeis v.eduluids/COnozzeledinto:nml Met (@) Subsonic flow] Flow ace, Met ‘Arobient Chambe Treat a 5 persone Fo A ormined 368. 300 crac! we wr ow with waves (©) Overexpanded Arobient Chambe Trmat Ne Met f Flow ace Flow ae. Net m0 waves et “et + (@ Design condition Arbient Chambe Treat Met Flow ac. Flow ace et ite net oat waves (@Underespanded| 1 Figure 3. Fiow patterns se