Boundary-Layer Stability Analysis of the Hypersonic International Flight Research Transition Experiments

Abstract

Boundary-layer stability analysis is performed by computational fluid dynamics simulation of experiments conducted in theCalspan–University at BuffaloResearchCenter Large EnergyNational ShockTunnel in support of the first flight of the Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation program. From the laminar flow solutions, disturbances are calculated using the linear parabolized stability equations method and instability is quantified by integrating the resulting disturbance growth rates. Comparisons aremade between the experimentally measured transition locations and the results of the parabolized stability equations analysis. The results show that for the cases tested, the e transition correlation works better than the commonly usedRe =Me engineering criterion for predicting the onset of boundary-layer transition from laminar to turbulent flow.