Investigation on transition correlation of conical boundary layer in hypersonic wind tunnel experiments

Abstract

The wind tunnel experiment is an important approach to studying boundary layer transition. In this study, the effects of bluntness, unit Reynolds number, and wall temperature ratio on hypersonic conical boundary layer transition were studied using numerical simulations and linear stability analyses based on the wind tunnel experimental data. Through the flow similarity principle, the treatment of the bluntness-varying problem was determined. Combining the experimental transition data and theoretical analysis results of sharp and blunt cones at home and abroad, the relation between the transition factor Ntr and the unit Reynolds number before ‘N factor reversal’, as well as the relation between the transition value Rtr and the unit Reynolds number from ‘N factor reversal’ to ‘transition reversal’ were determined too. Finally, according to the wind tunnel test data of China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center, the effect of wall temperature ratio on the receptivity of blunt-cone boundary layer was stated out, and the correlation of transition Reynolds number under different wall temperature ratios was determined. The influence law of parameters in this correlation was also determined.