Experimental investigation of the shock-induced flow over a wall-mounted cylinder

Abstract

The unsteady aerodynamic and aerothermal phenomena resulting from the interaction between a shock-induced supersonic boundary-layer flow and a wall-mounted cylinder are investigated. Experiments were conducted in a shock tube at three different post-shock unit Reynolds numbers and a single Mach number to investigate the effects of differing ratios of inviscid and viscous temporal scales on the flow development. Two cylinder heights were studied: ‘large’ and ‘small’ protuberances based on calculated boundary-layer thicknesses. Heat-flux measurements on the shock-tube wall were performed using an ultra-fast-response temperature sensitive paint and verified by independent thermocouple measurements. High-speed schlieren provided visualizations of the inviscid flow phenomena. The unsteady shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction ahead of the cylinder resulted in high transient heat loading on the wall and caused transition to turbulence of the incoming laminar boundary layer. Once this incoming boundary layer had naturally transitioned, the region of enhanced heat flux collapsed back towards the cylinder; during this process, heat transfer in the immediate wake increased significantly. The overall heat flux upstream of the cylinder was higher for the large protuberance, whereas the downstream heat flux was generally higher for the small protuberance. In the case of the large protuberance, the viscous scaling appeared to best collapse the upstream heat-flux development for the three different unit Reynolds numbers, though the agreement downstream was less satisfactory. Neither the viscous nor the inviscid scaling appeared to adequately collapse the development for the small protuberance.