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Systems with multiple jets are encountered in many engineering applications, for example, propulsion units in aircraft and rockets. When more than one jet is placed close to each other, the resultant aerodynamics is complicated due to the mutual interaction of the jets. In the present work, mean flowfield and the mixing characteristics of free supersonic jets from twin and triple converging-diverging nozzles placed in close proximity are studied experimentally. The nozzles are designed for Mach numbers 1.5 and 2.0, with an inter-nozzle spacing of twice the nozzle exit diameter. The typical interaction process and the evolution of the triple jet are discussed using crosssectional contour plots. The influence of introducing additional similar jets on the near flowfield characteristics such as jet-spread, supersonic core, and the shock wave structure is studied using pressure measurements along the jet centerline. As the number of jets increases, the spreading rate decreases due to a decrease in the entrainment. This causes the jets to decay at a slow rate, and the core length increases in the order of an increased number of jets. Schlieren images of single, twin and triple jets reveal that the supersonic jet core is different in twin and triple when compared with a single jet .

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Granular flows are highly dissipative due to frictional resistance and inelasticity in collisions among grains. They are known to exhibit shock waves at velocities that are easily achieved in industrial and nature-driven flows such as avalanches and landslides. This experimental work investigates the formation of strong shock waves on triangular obstacles placed in a dry rapid granular stream in a confined two-dimensional set-up. Oblique attached shock waves are formed for mild turning angles and higher flow velocities, whereas strong bow shock waves are formed for higher turning angles and slower granular streams. A shadowgraph imaging technique elucidates interesting characteristics of the shock waves, especially in the vicinity of shock detachment. Velocity distributions in the form of scatter plots and probability distribution functions are calculated from the flow field data obtained by particle imaging velocimetry. The flow field around the granular shock wave region represents a bimodal distribution of velocities with two distinct peaks, one representing the supersonic flow within the free stream, and the other corresponding to the subsonic faction downstream of a shock wave. Connecting the two is a population that does not directly belong to either of the modes, constituting the non-equilibrium shock wave region. The effect of grain size and scaling, for fixed free-stream conditions and fixed channel width, on the shock detachment is presented. The mechanisms of the static heap formation and the shock detachment process in a confined environment are discussed.

Interactions between the jets in a multi-hole injector and between the jet and the wall may affect the fuel-air mixing processes in a direct-injection Diesel engine. These interactions are the subject of the investigation in this work. It is known that in the case of free jets, for a given total mass and momentum flow rate, increasing the number of holes would result in an increase in the mixing rate. In the case of a multi-hole injector in an engine, however, if the number of holes are increased beyond an optimum value, the interaction between the jets themselves may result in a reduced mixing. In the limit of increasing the number of holes, a hollow-cone jet would result. The fuel-air mixing in the hollow-cone jet is shown to be slower than in a multi-hole injector with an optimum number of holes. It is also shown that the walls do not appear to have a significant direct effect on the mixing rate as the characteristic time associated with mixing appears to be much shorter than that associated with momentum loss to the walls

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Numerical simulation based on the discrete element method (DEM) is used to investigate the flow field generated when a cylindrical obstacle is placed in a supersonic granular stream. Robust validation of the simulation model is performed by comparing numerical results with experiments. Experiments are performed using a two-dimensional set-up generating rapid granular flow owing to gravity. DEM simulations demonstrate that a rapid gas-like stream of grains suddenly decelerates across the shock wave and finally collapses into a slow-moving heap at the cylinder. The volume fraction suddenly increases across the shock layer and remains constant thereafter. The flow physics of the shock wave and the granular heap is elucidated through fundamental fluid dynamic quantities such as the velocity, volume fraction, pressure and granular temperature. It is shown that the interaction of grains with a cylindrical obstacle results in the generation of pressure, which is responsible for sustaining static granular heaps on the cylinder. The total pressure is resolved into collisional and streaming components. A streaming pressure is generated owing to velocity fluctuations, and is found to be significant only in the shock wave region. The observations show that the rheological complexity offered by granular shock waves is a direct manifestation of the dissipative and frictional nature of granular collisions. The new insight into the granular heaps could be relevant to a variety of applications involving granular-fluid–solid interactions.