Experimental Investigation of the Hypersonic Boundary-Layer Transition Induced by the Wall-Mounted Cylinder

Abstract

The flowfield structure, heat flux distribution, and pressure fluctuations of the wall-mounted cylinder-induced hypersonic boundary-layer transition are investigated at a 10 deg angle of attack. Experiments are conducted in a Mach 6 low-noise wind tunnel using the nanotracer-based planar laser scattering (NPLS) technique, temperature-sensitive paints (TSP), and high-frequency pressure sensors. First, the streamwise and spanwise NPLS images, TSP results, and power spectral density results of isolated cylinders at different heights show that with the increase of the cylinder height [Formula: see text], the size of the separated region and the spanwise width of the horseshoe vortex increase, and the transition moves forward. Second, the flowfield structure and wall heat flux distribution around the streamwise cylinder arrays are investigated. The results demonstrate that the downstream cylinder will destroy the development of the hairpin vortex in the upstream cylinder wake but will expand the horseshoe vortex to both sides, increasing the influence area of the cylinder.