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Flow structure and optical beam propagation in high-Reynolds-number gas-phase shear layers and jets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2001

P. E. DIMOTAKIS
Affiliation:
Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
H. J. CATRAKIS
Affiliation:
Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA Present address: Mech. & Aerospace Eng., EG4218, U.C. Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697–3975, USA.
D. C. FOURGUETTE
Affiliation:
Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA Present address: VioSense Corp., 2400 Lincoln Ave., Altadena, CA 91001, USA.

Abstract

We report on the structure of the scalar index-of-refraction field generated by turbulent, gas-phase, incompressible and compressible shear layers and incompressible jets, and on associated beam-propagation aero-optical phenomena. Using simultaneous imaging of the optical-beam distortion and the turbulent-flow index-of-refraction field, wavefront-phase functions were computed for optical beams emerging from the turbulent region in these free-shear flows, in an aero-optical regime producing weak wavefront distortions. Spatial wavefront-phase behaviour is found to be dominated by the large-scale structure of these flows. A simple level-set representation of the index-of-refraction field in high-Reynolds-number, incompressible shear layers is found to provide a good representation of observed wavefront-phase behaviour, indicating that the structure of the unsteady outer boundaries of the turbulent region provides the dominant contributions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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