Experimental investigation of laminar-turbulent transition behind a three-dimensional roughness element in the boundary layer on a sharp cone

The qualitative characteristics of laminar-turbulent transition behind a three-dimensional roughness element in a zero-gradient boundary layer are investigated for high supersonic free-stream velocities. Quantitative data on the distribution of the heat transfer coefficient in the neighborhood of the roughness element and in the wake behind it are obtained. Another object of the investigation was to compare the data obtained for the position of the laminar-turbulent transition zone with well-known correlations used in practice.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 60–66, July–August, 1990.     

Reversal of the laminar-turbulent transition of a boundary layer on a cooled surface

A new series of experiments has investigated the influence of hoarfrost on the surface of a model on the position of the boundary layer transition for the same water vapor concentration in the working part of the wind tunnel and the same Mach number and unit Reynolds number but different amounts (masses) of hoarfrost on the investigated section of the model.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 170–172, March–April, 1984.     

Experimental study of the laminar-turbulent transition on a blunt cone

Results of an experimental study of the laminar-turbulent transition in a hypersonic flow around cones with different bluntness radii at a zero angle of attack, free-stream Mach number M _∞ = 6, and unit Reynolds number in the interval Re _∞,1 = 5.79 · 10⁶–5.66 · 10⁷ m^?1 are presented. Flow regimes in which a reverse of the laminar-turbulent transition (decrease in the length of the laminar segment with increasing bluntness radius) are studied. Heat flux distributions over the model surface are obtained with the use of temperature-sensitive paints. Lines of the beginning of the transition in the boundary layer are analyzed by using heat flux fields. The critical Reynolds number Re _∞,R ≈ 1.3 · 10⁵ beginning from which the laminar-turbulent transition substantially depends on uncontrolled disturbances, such as the model tip roughness, is found. In supercritical regimes, the line of the transition beginning is shifted in most cases toward the model tip (reverse of the transition). The results obtained are compared with available experimental data.     

Statistical description of laminar-turbulent transition in a boundary layer at high freestream turbulence degree

The statistical approach is applied to calculate the intermittence coefficient in boundarylayer laminar-turbulent transition due to external turbulence. It is assumed that turbulent regions in the boundary layer are associated with the appearance of turbulent spots generated by the secondary instability of streaky structures that have reached a threshold amplitude. An universal dependence of the intermittence coefficient in the transition region on the velocity fluctuation amplitude and the Reynolds number is obtained. It describes well the experimental results.     

Numerical modeling of laminar-turbulent transition in a boundary layer at a high freestream turbulence level

Disturbances generated by external turbulence in the boundary layer on a flat plate set suddenly in motion are determined by numerically solving the Navier-Stokes equations. The results of direct numerical simulation of isotropic homogenous turbulence are taken as initial conditions. The solution obtained models laminar-turbulent transition in the flat-plate boundary layer at a high freestream turbulence level, time measured from the onset of the motion serving as the longitudinal coordinate. The solution makes it possible to estimate the effect of different factors, such as flow unsteadiness and nonlinearity and the characteristics of the freestream velocity fluctuation spectrum, on laminar-turbulent transition in the boundary layer.     

Investigation of the effect of heavy gas injection into a supersonic boundary layer on laminar-turbulent transition

The effect of distributed tangential injection of heavy SF₆ gas into the wall zone of a boundary layer on the supersonic flow stability and laminar-turbulent transition is experimentally and theoretically investigated at the freestream Mach number M_∞ = 2. For the first time it is experimentally shown that in the case of this injection laminar-turbulent transition is downstream displaced.     

Effect of the specific heat ratio on the stability and laminar-turbulent transition of a supersonic boundary layer

At high supersonic velocities the specific heat ratio of the flow impinging on a body may change in connection with the considerable increase in stagnation temperature and chemical reactions (strictly speaking, in this case the flow can be described by means of the perfect gas model with an effective specific heat ratio _ef; as a rule, _gf<). This may entail a change in the point of laminar-tubulent boundary layer transition on the model. This paper is concerned with the determination of the effect of the specific heat ratio on boundary layer transition.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 179–183, March–April, 1989.The author wishes to thank M. I. Yaroslavtsev and V. A. Dmitriev for assisting with the experiments.     

STUDY OF MECHANISM OF BREAKDOWN IN LAMINARTURBULENT TRANSITION OF SUPERSONIC BOUNDARY LAYER ON FLAT PLATE

Spatial mode direct numerical simulation has been applied to study the mechanism of breakdown in laminar-turbulent transition of a supersonic boundary layer on a flat plate with Mach number 4.5. Analysis of the result showed that, during the breakdown process in laminar-turbulent transition, the mechanism causing the mean flow profile to evolve swiftly from laminar to turbulent was that the modification of mean flow profile by the disturbance, when they became larger, leads to remarkable change of its stability characteristics. Though the most unstable T-S wave was of second mode for laminar flow, the first mode waves played the key role in the breakdown process in laminar-turbulent transition.     

Effect of the freestream turbulence scale and the leading edge shape on boundary layer laminar-turbulent transition

The effect of the leading edge shape and the turbulence scale on laminar-turbulent transition in the flat-plate boundary layer due to grid turbulence is investigated. In the experiments, the turbulence scale was changed by a factor of three and the bluntness radius of the edge by a factor of four, all other factors being fixed. It is shown that on the plate with a sharp edge the fluctuation growth rate and the laminar-turbulent transition point depend nonmonotonically on the turbulence scale. On the blunt plate transition occurs considerably earlier than on the sharp plate.     

Mechanism of transition in a hypersonic sharp cone boundary layer with zero angle of attack

Firstly, the steady laminar flow field of a hypersonic sharp cone boundary layer with zero angle of attack was computed.Then,two groups of finite amplitude T-S wave disturbances were introduced at the entrance of the computational field,and the spatial mode transition process was studied by direct numerical simulation (DNS) method. The mechanism of the transition process was analyzed.It was found that the change of the stability characteristics of the mean flow profile was the key issue.Furthermore,the characteristics of evolution for the disturbances of different modes in the hypersonic sharp cone boundary layer were discussed.     

Direct numerical simulation of the laminar-turbulent transition in a thick spherical layer

The results of a numerical study of the laminar-turbulent transition in unsteady isothermal three-dimensional flows of viscous incompressible fluid in a thick spherical layer between counter-rotating spherical boundaries are presented. The calculations are performed for the governing parameters corresponding to the experimental data [1, 2]. The numerical investigations include both solving the complete system of Navier-Stokes equations and analyzing the linear stability of steady-state axisymmetric flows with respect to three-dimensional disturbances. A stochastic flow regime is calculated for the first time. The limits of existence of different flow regimes and the hysteresis regions are found. The spatial flow patterns and frequency characteristics are obtained, which makes it possible to extend and refine the existing experimental data.     

Singularities in the boundary layer on a cone at incidence

The singularities in the three-dimensional laminar boundary layer on a cone at incidence are studied. It is shown that these singularities are formed in the outer part of the boundary layer and described by linear equations whose solutions are obtained in analytic form. The known results for the plane of symmetry are classified on this basis. Two solutions of the non-self-similar problem are found, one of which has a singularity at zero incidence and in the sink plane. The second branch goes over continuously into the solution for axisymmetric flow. However, as the angle of attack increases, in the sink plane a singularity is formed and all the self-similar solutions existing here lose their meaning. Starting from the critical angle of attack, the flow in the vicinity of the sink plane is no longer described by the boundary layer equations, so that the results can be used to construct an adequate physical model.Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No.6, pp. 25–33, November–December, 1993.     

Effect of laminar-turbulent transition along the entrance length of a circular pipe on the intensity of the velocity fluctuations outside the boundary layer

The effect of the disturbances introduced by creating a local step in the wall surface of the inlet section on boundary layer transition within the entrance length of a circular pipe is investigated. Special attention is paid to the velocity fluctuations outside the boundary layer.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 6, pp. 30–34, November–December, 1989.     

Investigation of the influence of the unit Reynolds number on the transition of a boundary layer on a sharp cone

To establish the influence of the unit Reynolds number on the transition of a boundary layer on the side surface of a cone, the transition was investigated on a model of a sharp cone with half-angle = 7.5 ° and lengths from 150 to 400 mm. The experiments were made in a shock tube at Mach number M = 6.1 in the wide range of Reynolds numbers Re_eL = 1.3·10⁶-5.5·10⁷. The position of the transition region was determined from the results of measurement of the local heat flux by calorimetric thermocouple converters. Data were obtained on the influence on the transition of the unit Reynolds number at large values. It was also shown that under the investigated conditions the base region does not influence the transition of the boundary layer on the surface of the cone.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 32–38, July–August, 1982.     

Effect of disturbances at inlet on hypersonic boundary layer transition on a blunt cone at small angle of attack

To investigate the effect of different disturbances in the upstream, we present numerical simulation of transition for a hypersonic boundary layer on a 5-degree half-angle blunt cone in a freestream with Mach number 6 at 1-degree angle of attack. Evolution of small disturbances is simulated to compare with the linear stability theory （LST）, indicating that LST can provide a good prediction on the growth rate of the disturbance. The effect of different disturbances on transition is investigated. Transition onset distributions along the azimuthal direction are obtained with two groups of disturbances of different frequencies. It shows that transition onset is relevant to frequencies and amplitudes of the disturbances at the inlet, and is decided by the amplitudes of most unstable waves at the inlet. According to the characteristics of environmental disturbances in most wind tunnels, we explain why transition occurs leeside-forward and windside-aft over a circular cone at an angle of attack. Moreover, the indentation phenomenon in the transition curve on the leeward is also revealed.     

Effect of the cone nose bluntness and the ultrasonically absorptive coating on transition in a hypersonic boundary layer

The effect of an ultrasonically-absorptive coating on laminar-turbulent transition on cones with different nose bluntnesses is experimentally investigated. The experiments were performed with a cone with the semi-vertex angle of 7° set at zero incidence in the Mach 8 flow for three Reynolds numbers. A material with a chaotic micropore structure was used as the ultrasonically-absorptive coating. One side of the model, along its generator, was coated with the porous material, while the second represented a rigid surface. The laminar-turbulent transition location was determined from the results of heat flux distribution measurements. The heat flux fluctuations were also measured on the model surface. It was found that the laminar region length increased with an increase in the bluntness radius. The ultrasonically-absorptive coating with a chaotic microstructure effectively stabilizes the boundary layer for all bluntness radii considered, increasing the laminar region length by 30 to 85%.