Publications
Measurements and computations of second-mode instability waves in three hypersonic wind tunnels
Casper, Katya M.; Beresh, Steven J.
High-frequency pressure-fluctuation measurements were made in AEDC Tunnel 9 at Mach 10 and the NASA Langley 15-Inch Mach 6 and 31-Inch Mach 10 tunnels. Measurements were made on a 7{sup o}-half-angle cone model. Pitot measurements of freestream pressure fluctuations were also made in Tunnel 9 and the Langley Mach-6 tunnel. For the first time, second-mode waves were measured in all of these tunnels, using 1-MHz-response pressure sensors. In Tunnel 9, second-mode waves could be seen in power spectra computed from records as short as 80 {micro}s. The second-mode wave amplitudes were observed to saturate and then begin to decrease in the Langley tunnels, indicating wave breakdown. Breakdown was estimated to occur near N {approx} 5 in the Langley Mach-10 tunnel. The unit-Reynolds-number variations in the data from Tunnel 9 were too large to see the same processes.