Driving Mechanisms of High-Speed Unsteady Spiked Body Flows, Part I: Pulsation Mode

The driving mechanism of the unsteady e ow mode pulsation arising over axisymmetric spiked bodies has been analyzed by using computational e uid dynamics as a tool. Laminar, axisymmetric e ow at Mach 2.21 and Reynolds number (based on the blunt-body diameter) of 0.12 £106 was simulated by a spatially and temporally second-order-accurate e nite volume method. The model geometry was a forward facing cylinder of diameter D equipped with a spike of length L/D=1.00. After reviewing previous pulsation hypotheses, the numerical results were analyzed in detail. A new driving mechanism was proposed, its main features being the creation of a vortical region in the vicinity of the foreshock-aftershock intersection causing mass ine ux into the dead-air region, the existence of supersonic e ow within the dead-air region, the liftoff of the shear layer from the spike tip, and the collision of the recirculated and penetrating e ows within the expanded separated region.