The effects of bluntness and sweep on glancing shock wave turbulent boundary layer interaction

Abstract

An experimental investigation has been performed into the effects of leading edge bluntness and sweep on the mean flow characteristics of a glancing shock wave turbulent boundary layer interaction. A series of blunt un swept shock generators (ranging in leading edge diameter from O to 1.0 ins) and a series of sharp swept generators (covering angles of sweep from 0 to 75°) were tested at incidences up to 30° at a Mach number of 2.4 and a free stream Reynolds number of 2.6 x 106 m 1. The results obtained, using a combination of oil flow visualisation, static pressure measurements, schlieren photography and vapour screen visualisation, indicate that existing flow field models can be extended to include the more general configurations _ tested. Leading edge diameter was found to be the major parameter controlling the scale of the interaction produced by the blunted models, with model incidence playing a secondary role, even at large distances from the generator. Existing methods for predicting the scale of the un swept sharp generator flow field are shown to provide a reasonable estimate of the variation of upstream influence with Reynolds number.