On the mechanism of unsteady shock oscillation in shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interactions

Abstract

An experimental investigation into the mechanism of shock wave oscillation in compression ramp-generated shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interactions is presented. Particular emphasis is focused upon documenting the respective roles played by both burst-sweep events in the turbulent boundary layer immediately upstream of the interaction and the downstream separated shear layer upon unsteady shock front motion. Unlike the majority of compression ramp experiments which involve bulk separation and large-scale shock motion, consideration is given here to comparatively “weak” interactions in which the streamwise spatial excursion of the shock front is always less than one boundary layer thickness. In this manner any shock motion due to upstream burst-sweep events should be more apparent in relation to that oscillation associated with the separated region. A discrete Hilbert transform-based conditional sampling technique is used to obtain wall pressure measurements conditioned to burst-sweep events. The conditional sampling technique forms the basis by which the instantaneous shock motion is conditioned to the occurrence of upstream bursting. The relationship between the separation bubble and shock motion is also explored in detail. The results of the experiments indicate that the separation bubble represents a first-order effect on shock oscillation. Although it is demonstrated theoretically that the burst-sweep cycle can also give rise to unsteady shock motion of much lower amplitude, the experiments clearly demonstrate that there is no discernible statistical relationship between burst events and spanwise coherent shock front motion.