Numerical Analyses of Exhaust and Refill Processes of a Laser Pulse Jet

The exhaust-refill processes in a laser pulse jet with a conical nozzle are simulated using computational fluid dynamics to clarify the analytically unpredictable decreasing tendency of a momentum-coupling coefficient with an increasing nozzle apex angle. Because the exhaust-refill processes result from an adiabatically expanding blast wave after laser heating, a valid explosion source based on a measurement is used to drive the blast wave instead of a laser-absorption process. Results of computations show that processes that occur until the shock front of a blast wave reaches the nozzle exit are similar, irrespective of the nozzle apex angle. However, after the blast wave leaves the nozzle edge, the behavior of the rarefaction wave induced behind the shock wave depends greatly on the nozzle apex angle. In the case of small apex angles, successive refilling mechanisms with a vortex are activated by the prominently evolved rarefaction wave. In contrast, in the case of large apex angles, this mechanism disappears, due to the moderate evolution of the rarefaction wave. This difference creates a tendency of the momentum-coupling coefficient to decrease with the apex angle.