Experimental study of crossflow instability in a Mach 6 delta wing flow

Abstract

In this paper, the traveling crossflow instability in the boundary layer on the windward side of a delta wing is studied. The experiments are carried out in a Mach 6 low-noise wind tunnel, with the angles of attack of the model being 5° and 10°, and the Reynolds number being in a range of 2.43 × 10<sup>6</sup>–14.21 × 10<sup>6</sup> m<sup>–1</sup>. The wall fluctuation pressure is measured by fast-response Kulite pressure transducers. The power spectrum density (PSD) analysis is conducted to obtain the disturbance waves' development process in the boundary layer. The temperature-sensitive paints (TSPs) and nano-tracer based planar laser scattering (NPLS) technique are also used. From the TSP results, the boundary layer transition near the leading edge of the delta wing is smooth and parallel to the leading edge. A peak around 10 kHz in power spectrum density is detected by the fast-response pressure sensor, which may be caused by the traveling crossflow waves. To verify this dominant mode, an NPLS image in the plane of <i>n</i> = 36 mm is obtained. The shapes of vortex structures correspond to the shapes of the crossflow vortices from the numerical simulation. Only when the boundary layer is laminar can the traveling crossflow wave signal be observed from the PSD curves. When the boundary layer is at a transitional or turbulent phase, the low-frequency component is dominant in the PSD curve. With the increase of Reynolds number, the characteristic frequency of the crossflow wave increases, and the wave’s amplitude first increases and then decreases. Moreover, the angle of attack effect is obtained. The increasing of the angle of attack can make the traveling crossflow wave grow faster and saturate, attenuate at the position closer to the leading edge of the delta wing or at a lower Reynolds number. By sensor pairs composed of three Kulite transducers, the phase velocity and the propagation angle of the traveling crossflow wave are investigated. The dimensionless phase velocities of the traveling wave are in ranges of 0.24–0.26 and 0.26–0.32 at 5° and 10° angles of attack, respectively. The propagation angles are at 50°–60° and 40°–55° at the angles of attack of 5° and 10°, respectively. At a larger angle of attack, the traveling wave’s propagation angel is smaller, but the phase velocity is bigger. It may be because the spanwise pressure gradient is higher at a larger angle of attack, and then the crossflow velocity is stronger.