Reconstruction of the Spatial Distribution of the Average Air Density in a Supersonic Jet Based on Results of Laser Illumination

The possibility of reconstructing the spatial distribution of average air density in a supersonic jet from results of laser transillumination is considered. It is shown that the reconstruction procedure for axisymmetric flows can be performed based on Abel transforms by results of measurements of local wavefront tilts. An algorithm for reconstructing the average density of air in a medium from the deviations of the front of the transillumination wave relative to the jet axis is developed. The algorithm is tested in experiments on the vertical jet facility of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. The results agree well both with contact measurement data known from the literature and with the numerical solution of the hydrodynamic problem.