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ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words)A comprehensive study of stability and receptivity of hypersonic boundary layers has been carried out. The main results of the project: 1. Mathematical method of the multimode decomposition for three-dimensional perturbations in compressible boundary layers has been developed. The method provides analysis of experimental and computational results for modes of discrete and continuous spectra. 2. Theory of boundary-layer receptivity was developed for roughness-induced perturbations in incompressible and compressible boundary layers. 3. The transient growth phenomenon in compressible boundary layers over flat plate, sphere, and sharp cone has been studied. The work was accompanied by development of solvers for these geometries.
IntroductionThe potential of sustained hypersonic flight to revolutionize military and commercial activity is well recognized, and is reflected in recent initiatives such as the National Aerospace Initiative. High-speed vehicles will substantially impact military strategy by providing new defensive options such as a rapid on-demand global strike capability with much shorter response times than currently possible. Furthermore, the development of new technologies based on air-breathing propulsion can be leveraged to considerably reduce the cost of accessto-space, the benefits of which are both military as well as commercial. However, daunting technical challenges remain in realizing such vehicles. The harsh environment imposed by the envelope of such future missions is manifested in the severe anticipated thermo-mechanical loads and various propulsion-related requirements. Although the diversity of the physical phenomena encountered is broad, several key limiting issues have been identified as primary challenges, including both local and global constraints such as, for example, cowl lip loading and airframe balance. A scrutiny of the problems identified reveals the pervasive importance of several basic fluid dynamic phenomena. One of these, and possibly the least understood, is that of high-speed transition.The impact of hypersonic boundary lay...