Recent activities at CRAFT Tech related to the simulation of high speed laboratory jets, their control via passive actuation, and the scale-up and revisions required for real engines and operation at flight are discussed. We focus on aircraft applications related to jet noise reduction with activities pertinent to varied missile jet/plume applications the subject of other review papers. Laboratory jet experiments have served to validate the RANS turbulence models utilized and are supplemented by LES studies to provide data sets not readily obtainable in the laboratory such as temperature fluctuation data needed for thermal transport modeling. Applications for a military fighter aircraft indicate that laboratory experiments cannot replicate the real exhaust environment and thus can only suggest actuation concepts that are promising. CFD is required to revise and scale-up these concepts for the real engine and to provide estimates of their performance in flight. Studies presented show the differences between laboratory plumes and real plumes, as well as the effects of plume/plume and plume/aerodynamic interactions which are quite appreciable and show a markedly different structure than that of the isolated jet under the same operating conditions.
IR radiation characteristics of rocket exhaust plumes under varying motor operating conditions