Experimental study on the evolution of mode waves in laminar boundary layer on a large-scale flat plate

Abstract

In this research, to study the hypersonic boundary-layer transition, experiments were conducted on a large-scale flat plate with a length of 3.2 m at a zero angle of attack in the hypersonic shock tunnel duplicating flight conditions. Surface-mounted piezoelectric pressure sensors and coaxial thermocouples were, respectively, used to measure the pressure fluctuations and wall heat transfer. The spatial distribution of heat transfer was used to distinguish the transition. Under the test conditions of Ma = 7.0, T0 = 2120 K, and Re∞ = 6.08 × 105 m−1, no transition occurred, and under the test conditions of Ma = 7.0, T0 = 2220 K, and Re∞ = 1.23 × 106 m−1, the transition position was s = 2.06 m. The repeatability of the experiment was found to be good. Furthermore, focus was placed on the spectral and spatial/temporal evolution characteristics of pressure fluctuations in the laminar boundary layer. The experiment captured the three frequency distributions of mode waves in the laminar flow zone. Among the mode waves distributed in the three frequency bands, the low-/high-frequency bands were dominant, and the mid-frequency band exhibited a staged contribution. The amplitude energy percentages of the high- and low-frequency mode waves exhibited opposite trends in both time and space, which means that the disturbance energy will be distributed among the various harmonics in the laminar stage.