Measurements of the Mechanisms of Laminar-Turbulent Transition in the Mach-6 Quiet Tunnel
Abstract
The Mach-6 tunnel continues to run quiet to moderately high Reynolds numbers. Quiet flow was degraded in 2010 when the throat was opened, but a thorough repolishing of the throat resulted in a significant improvement in performance. Since the nozzle-wall boundary layer remains laminar more than 10 inches downstream of the exit to unit Reynolds numbers near 3.5 million per foot, unprecedented quiet-flow Reynolds numbers can now be achieved on slender models. The tunnel is operated by a single graduate student, with good reliability, and a large amount of data can be obtained during each run using a variety of sensors. Instability and transition measurements were carried out on various models to study the second-mode and crossflow instabilities, the instabilities behind an isolated roughness, the development of second-mode wave packets and turbulent spots, the general effects of roughness and tunnel noise, the effect of tunnel noise on oscillations in a forward-facing cavity, and other phenomena. The research resulted in 17 conference papers, 8 Master's theses and 2 Ph.D. theses. A brief summary is reported here, along with selected highlights.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 28, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA564009
Entities
People
- Steven P. Schneider
Organizations
- Purdue University