FL46CH19-Clemens ARI

The relationship between the upstream boundary layer and the low-frequency, large-scale unsteadiness of the separated flow in a Mach 2 compression ramp interaction is investigated by performing wide-field particle image velocimetry (PIV) and planar laser scattering (PLS) measurements in streamwise–spanwise planes. Planar laser scattering measurements in the upstream boundary layer indicate the presence of spanwise strips of elongated regions of uniform momentum with lengths greater than 40δ. These long coherent structures have been observed in a Mach 2 supersonic boundary layer (Ganapathisubramani, Clemens & Dolling 2006) and they exhibit strong similarities to those that have been found in incompressible boundary layers (Tomkins & Adrian 2003; Ganapathisubramani, Longmire & Marusic 2003). At a wall-normal location of y/δ=0.2, the inferred instantaneous separation line of the separation region is found to oscillate between x/δ=−3 and −1 (where x/δ=0 is the ramp corner). The instantaneous spanwise separation line is found to respond to the elongated regions of uniform momentum. It is shown that high- and low-momentum regions are correlated with smaller and larger size of the separation region, respectively. Furthermore, the instantaneous separation line exhibits large-scale undulations that conform to the low- and high-speed regions in the upstream boundary layer. The low-frequency unsteadiness of the separation region/shock foot observed in numerous previous studies can be explained by a turbulent mechanism that includes these elongated regions of uniform momentum.

Experiments were conducted in a two-stream planar mixing layer at convective Mach numbers,Mc, of 0.28, 0.42, 0.50, 0.62 and 0.79. Planar laser Mie scattering (PLMS) from a condensed alcohol fog and planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) of nitric oxide were used for flow visualization in the side, plan and end views. The PLIF signals were also used to characterize the turbulent mixture fraction fluctuations.Visualizations using PLMS indicate a transition in the turbulent structure from quasi-two-dimensionality at low convective Mach number, to more random three-dimensionality for$M_c\geqslant 0.62$. A transition is also observed in the core and braid regions of the spanwise rollers as the convective Mach number increases from 0.28 to 0.62. A change in the entrainment mechanism with increasing compressibility is also indicated by signal intensity profiles and perspective views of the PLMS and PLIF images. These show that atMc= 0.28 the instantaneous mixture fraction field typically exhibits a gradient in the streamwise direction, but is more uniform in the cross-stream direction. AtMc= 0.62 and 0.79, however, the mixture fraction field is more streamwise uniform and with a gradient in the cross-stream direction. This change in the composition of the structures is indicative of different entrainment motions at the different compressibility conditions. The statistical results are consistent with the qualitative observations and suggest that compressibility acts to reduce the magnitude of the mixture fraction fluctuations, particularly on the high-speed edge of the layer.