Compressible spreading rates of supersonic coaxial jets

The compressible spreading rates of two supersonic coaxial jets were studied experimentally. The center jet had a fully expanded Mach number of 3 and the outer jet of M = 1.8. The geometries of the center jet were circular and rectangular with two configurations, both with a 3:1 aspect ratio. The convective Mach numbers Mc were varied in the range between 0.25 and 2.25. The spreading rate of the center circular jet decreased with increasing Mc until it reached a constant value of 0.2 to 0.3 of the incompresible spreading rate for Mc larger than 1.4. The rectangular jets exhibited a similar drop at the same range of Mc, but their spreading rate was higher relative to the circular jet over the entire Mc range.