Effects of Laminar-Turbulent Transition on the Shock-Wave/Boundary-Layer Interaction

This paper presents results of experimental investigations of the nominally 2-D impinging shock-wave interaction with the transitional boundary layer developing on a flat plate at Mach 6 flow conditions. Experiments were conducted in the Ludwieg-Tube Facility at DLR Göttingen using quantitative infrared-thermography, high-speed shadowgraphy and free-stream Pitot-pressure fluctuation measurements. Natural-transition and shockimpingement locations on the flat plate were varied independently in order to establish different initial boundary-layer conditions at the interaction region. The results demonstrate significant impact of these mutual positions on the induced flow topology and on the heat-flux distribution. A range of CFD-validation test cases was created representing transition phenomena in some details. The distribution of the normalized Stanton number, generalized in the present work for a wide range of unit Reynolds numbers, indicate a clear narrow maximum inside the transition region