Turbulent hierarchic structure and scalar mixing in a supersonic mixing layer at high convective Mach numbers

Turbulent structures in a supersonic plane mixing layer at the convective Mach number of Mc=1.2 are studied using spatially developing DNS. High-resolution compact upwind-biased schemes developed by Deng & Maekawa (1996)[1] are employed for spatial derivatives. The numerical results indicate that the turbulent structures are generated after transition in the mixing layer, which are similar to the plane jet turbulent shear layer. The mixing layer Reynolds number based on the vorticity thickness reaches 6500. Unlike low Mach number mixing layers with a roller-like structure, hierarchic structures with hairpin packet-like structure and its cluster vortices are observed in the turbulent mixing layer. The effect of the turbulent hierarchic structure on scalar mixing is investigated using the DNS database. The visualized scalar field associated with vortical structure evolution of the turbulent mixing layer shows that the intermittent hairpin packet-like structure and its cluster govern a large-scale scalar mixing in the shear layer. The turbulent fine structure of pair vortices also plays an important role for scalar mixing. Furthermore, dilatational fields of the mixing layer show intense areoacoustic phenomena associated with the turbulent structure evolution.