Simulation of glancing shock wave and boundary layer interaction

Abstract

Shock waves generated by sharp fins, glancing across a laminar boundary layer growing over a flat plate, are simulated numerically. Several basic issues concerning the resultant three-dimensional flow separation are studied. Using the same number of grid points, different grid spacings are employed to investigate the effects of grid resolution on the origin of the line of separation. Various shock strengths (generated by different fin angles) are used to study the so-called separated and unseparated boundary layer and to establish the existence or absence of the secondary separation. The usual interpretations of the flow field from previous studies and new interpretations arising from the present simulation are discussed.