Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Layer Device Simulation Using the 3D, unsteady Navier-Stokes Equations

Abstract

The time-dependent, chemically reacting, viscous fluid dynamics within the chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) flowfield are simulated using the unsteady, laminar, multi-component Navier-Stokes equations. The solutions of these equations are generated within simulations of COIL hardware at standard operating conditions; conditions predicted in previous simulations to be unsteady. These current simulations ascertain the effect of the flow unsteadiness upon the laser gain through Doppler broadening of the spectral lineshape induced by the bulk movement of the gas. The results from the simulations demonstrate that the presence of bulk flow rotation associated with the unsteady vortex generation influences the temperature determined from the resulting lineshapes; this result has direct implications for experiments where spectroscopically measured lineshapes are utilized to determine flow temperatures. Additional simulations are used to test varying fidelity within the COIL finite-rate chemistry mechanism in the presence of the flow unsteadiness and H 2 O vapor condensation. The same unsteady, laminar, multi-component Navier-Stokes simulation methodology is applied to new COIL mixing nozzle concepts with the goal of utilizing the unsteadiness flow to improve device performance. Experimental planar laser induced iodine fluorescence data for these nozzle concepts are directly compared to simulation data in a newly developed methodology for COIL model validation.