Published May 1971 | public
Journal Article

Experimental stability studies in wakes of two-dimensional slender bodies at hypersonic speeds

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Abstract

Experimental stability studies were conducted in the transition region from laminar to turbulent flow in wakes of slender wedges and a flat plate at Mach number 6. As in low-speed flat plate wakes, transition from laminar to turbulent flow may be divided into a linear and a nonlinear instability region. Inviscid linear stability theory predicts well the growth of fluctuations and amplitude distribution in the linear region. In the nonlinear region similarities with low-speed wakes exist. Characteristic persisting peaks in the power spectra are observed. Based on these peak frequencies a nearly universal Strouhal number of fb_0/u∞ = 0.3 was found for both incompressible and hypersonic wake flows. A theoretical approach to predict the development of mean flow and flow fluctuations in the nonlinear region as employed by Ko, Kubota, and Lees in slender body low-speed wakes appears equally applicable for hypersonic wakes.

Additional Information

© 1971 AIAA. Received July 10, 1070; revision received November 30, 1970. Research supported by the U.S. Army Research Office and Advanced Research Projects Agency under Contract DA-31-124-ARO(D)-33. It is part of Project DEFENDER sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency. The authors are grateful to L. Lees and T. Kubota for many discussions and helpful suggestions.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 26, 2023