Analysis and Simulations of the Structure and Dynamics of Transitional Shock/Boundary Layer Interactions
Abstract
Project Summary The prediction and understanding of boundary layer transition is critical to the design of hy- personic flight vehicles. Great progress has been made in this area, and it is now possible to predict instability growth and transition to turbulence on simple geometries. A major prob- lem that has had almost no investigation concerns the interaction of a transitional boundary layer with a shock wave. These transitional shock/boundary layer interactions, or XSBLIs, are caused by fins, flaps, wings or other control surfaces, and can produce very large fluctu- ating loads on the vehicle. We propose a computational research program to quantitatively characterize the dynamics and structure of XSBLIs. We will use advanced direct numerical simulations and large-eddy simulations, coupled with emerging global stability and recep- tivity analysis methods. The computational study will be integrated with the experimental proposal submitted by Schmisseur et al. The proposed work lies at the interface of fluid mechanics, modern hydrodynamic stabil- ity theory, and high-performance computing. PI Candler and his research group have been working in the area of hypersonic boundary layer transition for close to twenty years. He led the development of the stability analysis code, STABL, which is widely-used by researchers and vehicle designers in industry, academia, and government labs. His research group has deep experience with the DNS and LES of compressible flows, including shock interactions, complex-geometry transitional flows, and fully turbulent flows. Co-PI Nichols has expertise in large-scale simulation and hydrodynamic stability analysis. Co-PI Jovanovi´c has an estab- lished track record on modeling, dynamics, and control of incompressible flows of Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids. State-of-the-art stability and transition approaches such as parabolized stability equa- tions (PSEs) are not valid for the analysis of XSBLIs. The sudden variation in boundary layer properties associated with the shock interaction violate the main assumptions of these methods. Therefore, we will combine high-fidelity large-scale computations with tools from optimization and systems theory to uncover fundamental mechanisms that drive XSBLI dynamics. These novel stability and receptivity analysis methods determine the inherent stability mechanisms and relevant multi-dimensional global instability modes directly from the computational or experimental data. This capability is essential for the study of XSBLI because the underlying dynamics are not understood for these flows. The proposed research will facilitate the development of low-complexity models of these flows and allow the design of model-based strategies for controlling XSBLI. 2
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141512522
Entities
People
- Graham Vardy Candler
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Regents of the University of Minnesota
- United States Navy