Visualization and force measurement of high-temperature, supersonic impulse jet impinging on baffle plate

The flow visualization and force measurement of a supersonic impinging jet on a center-holed vertical baffle plate were investigated. Center-holed baffle plates of 2d to 5d in diameter, with a 1d center hole were tested, where d is the bore of the launch tube. The standoff distance of the baffle plates from the open end of the launch tube were varied to be from 2d to 5d. The supersonic impulse jet, with an incident shock wave of Mach 2.89 was produced by a high-enthalpy blast-wave simulator. The direction-indicating color schlieren method produced a two-dimensional density gradient of the flow field around the baffle plate. In addition, the flow fields were numerically analyzed, using two-dimensional asymmetric Euler equations. The results of the numerically-analyzed and the experimentally-visualized flow field agreed well. The visualized flow field indicates that the baffle plate should be at least 3.5d in diameter to deflect the supersonic impinging jet at an angle greater than a right angle. We have concluded that the representative method of designing muzzle brakes for military purpose accurately predicts the force yielded by the supersonic impinging impulse jet on the vertical baffle plate only when there is a large ratio of the baffle-plate diameter to the bore of the launch tube.