Experiments on hypersonic boundary layer transition on blunt cones with acoustic-absorption coating

The laminar-turbulent transition is studied experimentally on a cone with an acoustic-absorption coating and with different nose bluntness in a high-speed flow. The acoustic-absorption coating is a felt metal sheet with a random microstructure. Experiments were carried out on a 1-meter length 7 degree cone at free-stream Mach number M = 8 and zero angle of attack. Locations of the laminar-turbulent transition are detected using heat flux distributions registered by calorimeter sensors. In addition, boundary layer pulsations are measured by means of ultrafast heat flux sensors. It is shown that the laminar-turbulent transition is caused by the second-mode instability, and the laminar run extends as the bluntness is increased. The porous coating effectively suppresses this instability for all tested bluntness values and 1.3-1.85 times extends the laminar run