Effect of wall perturbations on the receptivity of a hypersonic boundary layer

The receptivity of a Mach 5.92 flat plate boundary layer to periodic two-dimensional wall perturbations is studied by numerical simulations and linear stability theory LST . Free stream flow conditions are the same as the leading edge receptivity experiment of Maslov et al., J. Fluid Mech. 426, 73 2001 . Steady base flow is simulated by solving compressible Navier–Stokes equations with a combination of a fifth-order shock-fitting method and a second-order total variation diminishing scheme. The accuracy of the steady base flow is validated by comparisons with the experimental measurements of Maslov et al. and self-similar boundary-layer solution. In receptivity simulations, streamwise velocity perturbation, blowing suction, and temperature perturbation are introduced to the steady base flow with a forcing slot on flat plate. A model of wall perturbation is proposed based on physical properties of the electric pulse generator used in the experiment of Maslov et al. Stability characteristics of boundary-layer waves are identified and evaluated by comparing the results of LST and numerical simulation. Numerical simulation results show that all three types of wall perturbations eventually result in the same type of instability wave mode S in the boundary layer, which indicates that receptivity mechanism of the hypersonic boundary layer to wall perturbation is independent of specific perturbation type. On the other hand, the hypersonic boundary layer is found to be most sensitive to blowing-suction and least sensitive to temperature perturbation. © 2009 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.3103880