Interference Between a Cylindrical Bow Shock and a Plane Oblique Shock

Hypersonic flows are prone to intense shock waves whose intersection, or interference, gives rise to a system of waves and slip surfaces that can have a large influence on the aerodynamics of a vehicle. It is convenient to distinguish six types of interference associated with very distinct flow structures, depending on the intensity and relative direction of the intersecting shock waves. Among these classes of interference, those of types III and IV are the origin of shear layers or supersonic jets whose impact on a nearby surface creates potentially destructive peaks of pressure and heat flux locally. Type III and IV interference and the corresponding heat transfer distributions were investigated experimentally. The model consisted of a cylindrically blunted plate and a wedge serving as an oblique shock generator. These experiments were carried out in a short-duration wind tunnel at Mach numbers 6 and 16 in air and at Mach number 6.6 in carbon dioxide. The Reynolds number based on the plate bluntness diameter was varied in the range from 2.2 x 10 4 to 1.6 x 10 6 . The influence of the impinging shock location on the interference heat transfer was carefully investigated