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In comparison to a nozzle with a larger/finite separation distance (Thanigaiarasu et al., 2019), a thin-lip nozzle (Srinivasarao et al., 2017) minimizes drag. Coaxial nozzles with thin lips are an appropriate tool for studying high subsonic jets because it does not create a dominant re-circulation zone. This study aims to analyze the characteristic of separation distances, between primary and secondary nozzles, within the range of 0.7–3.2 mm which can be considered a thin lip.

A separation distance of 0.7  (Papamoschou, 2004), 1.7  and 2.65 mm (Lovaraju and Rathakrishnan, 2011) is considered for the present study. The main nozzle exit Mach number is maintained at a subsonic condition of Mach 0.6, and the co-flowing nozzle exit Mach number is varied from 0% (secondary jet stopped/single jet) to 100% (Mach 0.6) in steps of 20% with respect to the main nozzle exit Mach number. A comparison was made between these velocity ratios for all three lip thicknesses in the present study. Design mesh and analysis were done by using Gambit 2.6.4 and Fluent 6.12. Velocity contours and turbulence contours were studied for qualitative analysis.

When lip thickness increases from 0.7 to 2.65 mm, the potential core length (PCL) of the primary jet decreases marginally. Additionally, the PCL of the primary jet elongates significantly as the velocity ratio increases. The primary shear layer is dominant at 20% co-flow (20 PCF), less dominant at 60% co-flow (60 PCF) and almost disappeared at 100% co-flow (100 PCF). Concurrently, the secondary shear layer almost disappeared in 20 PCF, dominant in 60 PCF and more dominant in 100 PCF. Different zones such as initial merging, intermediate and fully merged zones are quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed.

Co-flow nozzle is used in turbofan engine exhaust. The scaled-down model of a turbofan engine has been analyzed. Core length is directly proportional to the jet noise. The PCL signifies the jet noise reduction in a high-speed jet. For a low-velocity ratio, the potential core is reduced and hence can reduce the jet noise. At the same time, as the velocity ratio increases, the mass flow rate of the coaxial increases. The increase in the mass flow increases the thrust of the engine. The aircraft engine designer should analyze the requirement of the aircraft and choose the optimal velocity ratio coaxial nozzle for the engine exhaust (Papamoschou, 2004).

There have been many research studies carried out previously at various lip thickness such as 0.4  (Georgiadis, 2003), 0.7  (Papamoschou, 2004), 1.5  (Srinivasarao et al., 2014a), 1.7  (Sharma et al., 2008), 2  (Naren, Thanigaiarasu and Rathakrishnan, 2016), 2.65  (Lovaraju and Rathakrishnan, 2011), 3  (Inturiet al., 2022) and 3.2 mm (Perumal et al., 2020). However, there is no proper study to vary the lip thickness in this range from 0.7 to 3.2 mm to understand the flow behavior of a co-flowing jet.

This paper aims to present the jet mixing effectiveness of triangular tabs with semi-circular corrugations to control the subsonic and sonic correctly expanded jets.

Three semi-circular corrugated triangular tabs (Tab A, Tab B and Tab C) of equal blockage 5.11% are used, in which the corrugation locations on the tabs are varied. The offset distance between the semi-circular corrugations at the leaned edges of the triangular tabs are 0.0, 0.75 and 1.5 mm for the Tabs A, B and C, respectively. Two identical semi-circular corrugated tabs has been placed exactly 180° apart at the exit of the convergent nozzle. The pitot pressure measurements were taken to study the jet mixing characteristics of the tabs for the jet exit Mach numbers of 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0, and it is compared with the free jet.

The jet centerline pitot pressure decay reveals that, Tab A is very effective than Tab B and Tab C. For the jet exit Mach numbers of 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0, the potential core reduction for the Tab A is found to be 69.1%, 69.7% and 70.8%, respectively, when compared with the free jet.

The semi-circular corrugated triangular tabs were found to be more effective than the plain triangular tabs of equal blockage ratio for reducing the core length with minimum thrust loss.

The offset distance of the semi-circular corrugations are varied along the leaned sides of the triangular tabs, which is the novelty of this study.