Secondary Instability of Hypersonic Crossflow Vortices

Abstract

This proposal details a series of experiments aimed at furthering the physics-based understanding of the secondary instability of the crossflow instability in high-speed flows. The experiments will be performed in the Mach 4 Quiet Ludwieg Tube (QLT4, recently installed) and Mach 5 Ludwieg Tube (LT5, in the manufacturing stage) at the University of Arizona. Experiments will utilize a right-circular cone at angle of attack to investigate the growth and breakdown of crossflow vortices and their secondary instabilities. Of particular interest will be the secondary instability behavior up to and through transition, the potential for interaction between the various competing instability modes, and the effect of Mach number. These experiments will operate at lower Mach numbers than previous experiments, which is expected to result in a more unstable boundary layer. Embedded high-frequency pressure transducers and thermocouples will provide surface pressure and temperature measurements and a focusing schlieren system will provide high-frequency, offbody measurements of unsteady fluctuations. Additional year 1 funding for capital equipment is also requested to enable infrared thermography measurements. Improved understanding of this phenomenon will help enable more accurate predictive tools for modeling transition behavior on supersonic and hypersonic vehicles.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Jul 26, 2018
Source ID
N000141812500

Entities

People

  • Stuart A. Craig

Organizations

  • Office of Naval Research
  • United States Navy
  • University of Arizona

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Fluid Dynamics.
  • Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics.
  • Research Science/Academic Research

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics
  • Hypersonics - Hypersonic Boundary Layers
  • Hypersonics - Hypersonic Flow