Spatial Dynamics of Turbulence and Thermodynamic Nonlinearities in Supercritical CO2 Mixing Layers

Abstract The impact of thermodynamic nonlinearities on flow properties and turbulence are the focus of this study, which investigates the spatial dynamics of supercritical CO2 turbulent mixing layers. Near the critical point, where parameters such as density, pressure, temperature, isothermal compressibility, and thermal expansion coefficient show significant variations, supercritical fluids behave distinctly relative to ideal gases. These nonlinearities have a major effect on turbulence and cause complex mixing behavior that has important ramifications for the applications that make use of supercritical fluids. The study explores the effects of local variations in important thermodynamic variables on fluid dynamics using an already existing database obtained via a wall-resolved large-eddy simulation. Five locations (four spanning the cross-stream direction, and one streamwise) are the subject of the analysis. To build upon previous work, the variations in the thermodynamic and transport properties are contextualized in terms of the governing system of equations and influencing parameters therein.