A study of hypersonic swept shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interactions using a conical Navier-Stokes code
A computational study has been performed of sharp fin-induced swept shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interactions at low hypersonic Mach numbers. The objective was to determine if results obtained using a conical Navier-Stokes code, particularly the peak heating and pressure, are adequate for engineering predictions. The advantage of the conical approach is that the problem becomes two-dimensional and requires much less computational effort than a fully three-dimensional calculation. In this code, the standard Baldwin-Lomax model is used for turbulent closure and its performance is studied in some detail. To assess the approach interactive flowfields generated by unswept sharp fins at two angles of attack at each of three hyprsonic freestream Mach numbers (5, 6, 11) have been calculated and the results compared with experimental wall pressure and heat transfer data. Although the conical Navier-Stokes/Baldwin-Lomax approach is reasonably successful at Mach numbers up to 5, the performance deteriorates as the Mach number is increased. Nevertheless, the approach could be a valuable tool in preliminary parametric design studies.