• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.52-58
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• 2018

Hysteresis phenomena are often encountered in a wide variety of fluid flow systems used in industrial and engineering applications. Hence, in recent years, a significant amount of research been focusing on clarifying the physics of the flow hysteresis appearing during the transient change of the pressure ratios and influencing the performance of the supersonic wind tunnel. However, investigations on the hysteresis phenomenon, particularly when it occurs inside the supersonic wind tunnel, are rare. In this study, numerical simulations were carried out to investigate the hysteresis phenomena of the shock waves encountered in a supersonic wind tunnel. The unsteady and compressible flow was analyzed with an axisymmetric model, and the N-S equations were solved by using a fully implicit finite volume scheme. The optimal pressure ratio was determined from the hysteresis curves, and the results can be utilized to operate the wind tunnel efficiently.