Numerical and experimental investigations on supersonic ejectors

Supersonic ejectors are widely used in a range of applications such as aerospace, propulsion and refrigeration. The primary interest of this study is to set up a reliable hydrodynamics model of a supersonic ejector, which may be extended to refrigeration applications. The first part of this work evaluated the performance of six well-known turbulence models for the study of supersonic ejectors. The validation concentrated on the shock location, shock strength and the average pressure recovery prediction. Axial pressure measurements with a capillary probe performed previously [Int. J. Turbo Jet Engines 19 (2002) 71; Conference Proc., 10th Int. Symp. Flow Visuzlization, Kyoto, Japan, 20021, were compared with numerical simulations while laser tomography pictures were used to evaluate the non-mixing length. The capillary probe has been included in the numerical model and the non-mixing length has been numerically evaluated by including an additional transport equation for a passive scalar, which acted as an ideal colorant in the flow. At this point, the results show that the k-omega-sst model agrees best with experiments. In the second part, the tested model was used to reproduce the different operation modes of a supersonic ejector, ranging from on-design point to off-design. In this respect, CFD turned out to be an efficient diagnosis too] of ejector analysis (mixing, flow separation), for design, and performance optimization (Optimum entrainment and recompression ratios). (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.