Publications

Hypersonic shock wave–boundary-layer interaction on the control surface of a slender cone

Pandey, Anshuman; Casper, Katya M.; Spillers, Russell; Soehnel, Melissa; Spitzer, Seth

Three-dimensional shock wave–boundary-layer interaction arising due to the deflection of a control surface on a slender cone has been studied at Mach 5 and Mach 8. The control surface has been represented as a spanwise finite wedge placed on a horizontally sliced part of the cone. The freestream Reynolds number was varied so that the upstream boundary layer entering the interaction region was either laminar, transitional or turbulent. The interaction has been studied using high-frequency surface pressure measurements, temperature-sensitive paint and high-speed schlieren. Separation length was found to vary slightly with Reynolds number in the purely laminar or turbulent regime but changed rapidly when the flow was transitional. At all Reynolds numbers, the pressure spectra near the separation point was dominated by low frequency broadband fluctuations which are presumed to be associated with separation shock unsteadiness. A characteristic decay of shear layer frequency from inception to reattachment was also captured by the surface pressure spectra. Peak non-dimensional heating was found to occur when the flow was transitional.