Numerical Analysis and Verification of the Gas Jet from Aircraft Engines Impacting a Jet Blast Deflector

Abstract The process of the gas jet from aircraft engines impacting a jet blast deflector is not only a complex fluid–solid coupling problem that is not easy to compute, but also a safety issue that seriously interferes with flight deck environment. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is used to simulate numerically the impact effect of gas jet from aircraft engines on a jet blast deflector by using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and turbulence models. First of all, during the pre-processing of numerical computation, a sub-domains hybrid meshing scheme is adopted to reduce mesh number and improve mesh quality. Then, four different turbulence models including shear-stress transport (SST) k-w, standard k-w, standard k-ε and Reynolds stress model (RSM) are used to compare and verify the correctness of numerical methods for gas jet from a single aircraft engine. The predicted values are in good agreement with the experimental data, and the distribution and regularity of shock wave, velocity, pressure and temperature of a single aircraft engine are got. The results show that SST k-w turbulence model is more suitable for the numerical simulation of compressible viscous gas jet with high prediction accuracy. Finally, the impact effect of gas jet from two aircraft engines on a jet blast deflector is analyzed based on the above numerical method, not only the flow parameters of gas jet and the interaction regularity between gas jet and the jet blast deflector are got, but also the thermal shock properties and dynamic impact characteristics of gas jet impacting the jet blast deflector are got. So the dangerous activity area of crew and equipments on the flight deck can be predicted qualitatively and quantitatively. The proposed research explores out a correct numerical method for the fluid–solid interaction during the impact process of supersonic gas jet, which provides an effective technical support for design, thermal ablation and structural damage analysis of a new jet blast deflector.