Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 February 2014
The non-classical gas dynamics of binary mixtures of organic fluids in the vapour phase is investigated for the first time. A predictive thermodynamic model is used to compute the relevant mixture properties, including its critical point coordinates and the local value of the fundamental derivative of gas dynamics $\Gamma $. The considered model is the improved Peng–Robinson Stryjek–Vera cubic equation of state, complemented by the Wong–Sandler mixing rules. A finite thermodynamic region is found where the nonlinearity parameter $\Gamma $ is negative and therefore non-classical gas dynamics phenomena are admissible. A non-monotone dependence of $\Gamma $ on the mixture composition is observed in the case of binary mixtures of siloxane and perfluorocarbon fluids, with the minimum value of $\Gamma $ in the mixture being always larger than that of its more complex component. The observed dependence indicates that non-ideal mixing has a strong influence on the gas dynamics behaviour, either classical or non-classical, of the mixture. Numerical experiments of the supersonic expansion of a mixture flow around a sharp corner show the transition from the classical configuration, exhibiting an isentropic rarefaction fan centred at the expansion corner, to non-classical ones, including mixed expansion waves and rarefaction shock waves, if the mixture composition is changed.