On the influence of elevated surface temperatures on hypersonic shock wave/boundary layer interaction at a heated ramp model

Abstract

Although important flow parameters as Mach number, Reynolds number and total enthalpy can be reproduced in most hypersonic experiments quite well, due to different surface temperature effects in wind tunnel and flight, scaling as well as specific flow properties of shock wave/boundary layer interactions are different. This especially holds for short-duration facilities like, e.g. shock tunnels where due to short running times the models remain more or less at ambient temperature. To overcome this shortcoming, an experimental study has been conducted using a preheatable ramp model with 15° ramp angle. This allowed us to adjust the surfaces to an arbitrary temperature just before the experiment started. Pressure and heat flux measurements clearly showed the effect of varying surface and free stream temperatures. These results are supported by schlieren pictures and infrared measurements. The comparison of the measurements with theoretical and numerical results shows a good agreement. Separation bubble scaling laws proposed by Katzer and Davis have been applied and partially confirmed using the local conditions of the boundary layer at separation.