Tableshowingthereversalinthe

physicsofnozzlesanddiffuserswith
changingMachnumbers

Therefore,toaccelerateaflowtoMach1,anozzlemustbedesignedtoconvergetoaminimumcrosssectionalareaand
thenexpand.ThistypeofnozzletheconvergingdivergingnozzleiscalledadeLavalnozzleafterGustafdeLaval,
whoinventedit.Assubsonicflowenterstheconvergingductandtheareadecreases,theflowaccelerates.Upon
reachingtheminimumareaoftheduct,alsoknownasthethroatofthenozzle,theflowcanreachMach1.Ifthespeed
oftheflowistocontinuetoincrease,itsdensitymustdecreaseinordertoobeyconservationofmass.Toachievethis
decreaseindensity,theflowmustexpand,andtodoso,theflowmustpassthroughadivergingduct.Seeimageofde
LavalNozzle.

NozzledeLavaldiagram

Maximumachievablevelocityofagas

Ultimately,becauseoftheenergyconservationlaw,agasislimitedtoacertainmaximumvelocitybasedonitsenergy
content.Themaximumvelocity,Vmax,thatagascanattainis:

wherecpisthespecificheatofthegasandTtisthestagnationtemperatureoftheflow.

IsentropicflowMachnumberrelationships

Usingconservationslawsandthermodynamics,anumberofrelationshipsoftheform
canbeobtained,whereMistheMachnumberandistheratioofspecificheats(1.4forair).Seetableofisentropic
flowMachnumberrelationships.

Isentropicflowrelationshiptable.
Equationstorelatethefield
propertiesinisentropicflow.

Achievingsupersonicflow

Aspreviouslymentioned,inorderforaflowtobecomesupersonic,itmustpassthroughaductwithaminimumarea,or
sonicthroat.Additionally,anoverallpressureratio,Pb/Pt,ofapproximately2isneededtoattainMach1.Onceithas
reachedMach1,theflowatthethroatissaidtobe"choked."Becausechangesdownstreamcanonlymoveupstreamat
sonicspeed,themassflowthroughthenozzlecannotbeaffectedbychangesindownstreamconditionsaftertheflowis
choked.

Nonisentropic1Dchannelflowofagasnormalshockwaves

Normalshockwavesareshockwavesthatareperpendiculartothelocalflowdirection.Theseshockwavesoccurwhen
pressurewavesbuildupandcoalesceintoanextremelythinshockwavethatconvertsusefulenergyintoheat.Thewaves
thusovertakeandreinforceoneanother,formingafiniteshockwavefromaninfiniteseriesofinfinitesimalsound
waves.Becausealossofenergyoccursoverthethinshockwave,theshockisconsiderednonisentropicandenthalpy
increasesacrosstheshock.Whenanalysinganormalshockwave,onedimensional,steady,andadiabatic(stagnation
temperaturedoesnotchangeacrosstheshockwave)flowofaperfectgasisassumed.

TheRankineHugoniotequations
relateconditionsbeforeandaftera
normalshockwave.

Normalshockwavescanoccurintworeferenceframes:thestandingnormalshockandthemovingshock.Theflow
beforeanormalshockwavemustbesupersonic,andtheflowafteranormalshockmustbesubsonic.TheRankine
Hugoniotequationsareusedtosolvefortheflowconditions..