Reynolds- and Mach-number effects in canonical shock–turbulence interaction

• Published in: Journal of fluid mechanics 2013-02, Vol.717, p.293-321
• Main Authors: Larsson, Johan, Bermejo-Moreno, Ivan, Lele, Sanjiva K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anisotropy; Compressible flows; shock and detonation phenomena; Exact sciences and technology; Flow velocity; Fluid dynamics; Fluid mechanics; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Isotropic turbulence; homogeneous turbulence; Isotropy; Kinetic energy; Physics; Reynolds number; Shock waves; Shock-wave interactions and shock effects; Turbulent flow; Turbulent flows, convection, and heat transfer
• ISSN: 0022-1120; 1469-7645
• DOI: 10.1017/jfm.2012.573

The interaction between isotropic turbulence and a normal shock wave is investigated through a series of direct numerical simulations at different Reynolds numbers and mean and turbulent Mach numbers. The computed data are compared to experiments and linear theory, showing that the amplification of turbulence kinetic energy across a shock wave is described well using linearized dynamics. The post-shock anisotropy of the turbulence, however, is qualitatively different from that predicted by linear analysis. The jumps in mean density and pressure are lower than the non-turbulent Rankine–Hugoniot results by a factor of the square of the turbulence intensity. It is shown that the dissipative scales of turbulence return to isotropy within about 10 convected Kolmogorov time scales, a distance that becomes very small at high Reynolds numbers. Special attention is paid to the ‘broken shock’ regime of intense turbulence, where the shock can be locally replaced by smooth compressions. Grid convergence of the probability density function of the shock jumps proves that this effect is physical, and not an artefact of the numerical scheme.