An investigation of shock/boundary-layer interactions on curved surfaces at transonic speeds

Abstract

A detailed experimental investigation has been made of shock/boundary-layer interactions on curved surfaces at transonic speeds. The shock waves were generated above circular-arc models with different radii mounted on the floor of the wind-tunnel test section. The ratio of the boundary-layer thickness (U/Ue = 0.99) in front of the shock to the radius of the surface curvature ranged from 0 (i.e. a flat surface) to 0.068. The Mach number just in front of the shock varied from 1.00 to 1.82 and the Reynolds number based on the model chord length was about 1.6 million. Interacting-flow studies include flows with shock-induced separation, flows with trailing-edge separation and flows with no separation. From all these studies it was found that separation was most extensive at the critical peak Mach number at which the separation changes from trailing-edge separation to shock-induced separation.