Experimental research on swept shock Wave/Boundary layer interactions

An experimental research effort on the subject of swept shock wave interactions with turbulent boundary layers is reported. The research relied largely on nonintrusive, laser based optical flow diagnostics. Experiments were carried out to define the Mach number influence, flowfield structure, and quantitative skin friction behavior of fin generated swept interactions over the supersonic range from March 2.5 to 4.0, including weak, moderate, and strong interactions. The results have given new insight into the fin interaction flowfield structure, which involves a jet impingement process caused by shockwave bifurcation. High skin friction levels were measured in the vicinity of this jet impingement and were used for the validation of computational predictions carried out by others.