Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Thompson, David S.

Committee Member

Sescu, Adrian

Committee Member

Koenig, Keith

Date of Degree

8-7-2020

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Aerospace Engineering

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

James Worth Bagley College of Engineering

Department

Department of Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

Two-dimensional supersonic flows out of rocket nozzles are one of three flow types: over-, perfectly-, or under-expanded. In under-expanded flows, an expansion fan is centered at the top and bottom tip of the rocket nozzle. When the waves from the expansion wave cross through the centerline and intersect the free boundary, the waves are reflected as compression waves. For higher exit-to-ambient pressure ratios, the compression waves coalesce and eventually form a barrel shock. The purpose of this study was to use the Method of Characteristics (MOC), a mathematical procedure for solving hyperbolic partial differential equations, to simulate the formation of the barrel shock. A MOC code was developed in the Python programming language to accomplish task. Results of the MOC code compared favorably with CFD results.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/18427

Comments

method of characteristics||nozzle exhaust||supersonic flow||underexpanded flow

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