Flow Visualization for Shock Wave / Boundary Layer Interactions on the Front Edge of Flat Plate

In engineering practice, when the flight Mach number is beyond the design Mach number, or the actual flight attack exceeds rated value, the waves generated by forebody would interact with lip boundary layer, which may result in inlet unstart. In figure 1, a sizable wave pattern occurs at the lip leading edge, which includes various basic physical appearances such as viscous flow, separation, and shock reflection. Although the complex configuration is quite different from the classical separation structure, the phenomenon is actually a type of shock wave /boundary layer interaction phenomenon (SWBLI).