Effects of Surface Heat Transfer on Boundary-Layer Transition
Abstract
Effects of surface heat transfer on boundary-layer transition are analyzed in a three-part study using the Saffman-Wilcox transition model. In the first part of the study, model predictions are compared with experimental data for cooled and heated aerodynamic boundary layers on smooth flat surfaces and for cooled aerodynamic boundary layers near the stagnation point of a roughened blunt body. Consistent with measurements, the model predicts, on the one hand, that heating destabilizes a smooth-surface aerodynamic boundary layer and, on the other hand, that cooling destabilizes a rough-surface aerodynamic boundary layer. Differences between predicted and measured transition-point locations are within experimental error bounds. Then, incipient transition conditions are determined for a small, heated hydrodynamic body. Again model predictions agree with measurements which indicate that relatively small amounts of surface heating have a strong stabilizing effect on hydrodynamic boundary layers. In the final part of the study, transition location is determined for a large hydrodynamic body; results indicate that large surface heating rates are not substantially more effective than smaller rates.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1975
- Accession Number
- ADA101624
Entities
People
- David C. Wilcox
- Thomas L. Chambers