Laminar-to-turbulent transition in supersonic boundary layer: Effects of initial perturbation and wall heat transfer

Abstract

Direct numerical simulations of supersonic boundary layers (SBLs) over a flat plate for M∞=2.2 are performed for adiabatic and isothermal (cooled and heated) walls. Receptivity analysis based on five criteria, namely skin-friction coefficient, Stanton number, Reynolds shear stress, wall-normal Reynolds heat flux, and modal decomposition are performed. Effect of perturbation intensity and wall heat transfer on the receptivity and the transitional growth of SBLs are presented. It is found out that increasing perturbation intensity moves the transition onset location upstream and increases the transition length. Additionally, below 1% perturbation intensity, wall cooling stabilizes the flow while beyond this value it has the opposite effect.