The stabilization of a hypersonic boundary layer using local sections of porous coating

Abstract

The stabilization effect of porous coating on the hypersonic boundary layers over flat plates and cones has been studied by theoretical analyses, experiments, and numerical simulations. It was found that porous coating slightly destabilizes Mack's first mode whereas it significantly stabilizes Mack's second mode. In previous studies, porous coating covers either the entire flat plate or the surface around half the cone circumference. The effect of porous coating location on boundary-layer stabilization has not been considered. Furthermore, the destabilization of Mack's first mode has not been studied in detail. In this paper, the stabilization of a Mach 5.92 flat-plate boundary layer using local sections of porous coating is studied with the emphasis on the effect of porous coating location and the first-mode destabilization. Artificial disturbances corresponding to a single boundary-layer wave are introduced near the leading edge. A series of stability simulations are carried out by locally putting felt-metal porous coatings along the flat plate. It is found that disturbances are destabilized or stabilized when porous coating is located upstream or downstream of the synchronization point. For felt-metal porous coating, the destabilization of Mack's first mode is significant. The results suggest that an efficient way to stabilize hypersonic boundary-layer flows is to put porous coating downstream of the synchronization point. Finally, porous coating is used to stabilize the boundary layer disturbed by one blowing-suction actuator.