The high-enthalpy, hypersonic flow over a compression corner has been examined experimentally and theoretically. Surface static pressure and heat transfer distributions, along with some flow visualization data, were obtained in a free-piston shock tunnel operating at enthalpies ranging from 3 MJ kg−1 to 19 MJ kg−1, with the Mach number varying from 7.5 to 9.0 and the Reynolds number based on upstream fetch from 2.7×104 to 2.7×105. The flow was laminar throughout. The experimental data compared well with theories valid for perfect gas flow and with other relevant low-to-moderate enthalpy data, suggesting that for the current experimental conditions, the real gas effects on shock wave/boundary layer interaction are negligible. The flat-plate similarity theory has been extended to include equilibrium real gas effects. While this theory is not applicable to the current experimental conditions, it has been employed here to determine the potential maximum effect of real gas behaviour. For the flat plate, only small differences between perfect gas and equilibrium gas flows are predicted, consistent with experimental observations. For the compression corner, a more rapid rise to the maximum pressure and heat transfer on the ramp face is predicted in the real gas flows, with the pressure lying slightly below, and the heat transfer slightly above, the perfect gas prediction. The increase in peak heat transfer is attributed to the reduction in boundary layer displacement thickness due to real gas effects.

No abstract

No abstract

The structure of large-scale hypersonic boundary layer separation and reattachment is studied numerically using a flat plate/compression corner geometry. Apart from verifying the large scale separation characteristics in hypersonic flow, a detailed discussion of secondary separation and fragmentation into multiple vortices embedded within the main recirculation region is presented. The unique relation between the second minimum in shear stress and the scaled angle is highlighted in the context of the reverse flow singularity of Smith (Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A, vol. A420, 1988, pp. 21–52) and it appears that for a small wall temperature ratio, such a singularity is unlikely. It is shown that the size of the separation can be estimated in terms of Burggraf’s expression based on asymptotic theory.