On low-frequency unsteadiness of single-incident and dual-incident shock waves/turbulent boundary layer interactions with large-scale separations

Abstract

Interactions between turbulent boundary layer and single-incident or dual-incident shock waves are commonly observed in supersonic inlets. To provide novel insights into the unsteadiness of these interactions, six incident shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interactions (ISWTBLIs), including both single-ISWTBLIs and dual-ISWTBLIs, are experimentally investigated using dynamic wall-pressure measurements at Mach 2.73 flow conditions. Through spectral analysis and correlation analysis, the unsteadiness characteristics of single-ISWTBLIs and dual-ISWTBLIs are comparatively examined, revealing significant influences of shock-wave strength and shock-wave distance on low-frequency unsteadiness. Specifically, both regions near the separation and reattachment points exhibit distinct low-frequency unsteadiness in single-ISWTBLIs and dual-ISWTBLIs with relatively strong separations. An increase in the deflection angle from 10° to 12° in single-ISWTBLIs extends the streamwise separation length, while causing a dramatic decrease in both characteristic frequency and normalized characteristic frequency (Strouhal number) of low-frequency unsteadiness. However, for dual-ISWTBLIs, as the shock-wave distance increases, there is an initial increase followed by a subsequent decrease in the separation length accompanied by a continuously increasing characteristic frequency, thus indicating a different relationship between separation length and characteristic frequency of unsteadiness in dual-ISWTBLIs in comparison with that observed in single-ISWTBLIs. Moreover, correlation analysis revealed that the pressure signals in the reattachment region are of strong negative correlation with those near the separation-shock foot, and the correlation increases with increasing shock-wave strength in single-ISWTBLIs and decreasing shock-wave distance in dual-ISWTBLIs.