Nonlinear spectral dynamics of hypersonic laminar boundary layer flow

The nonlinear interactions of the instability modes in a hypersonic laminar boundary layer undergoing natural transition are examined using bispectral analysis. The data are from an experiment of a boundary layer flow on a cooled-wall cone in a low-level free-stream disturbance hypersonic wind tunnel, and thus, the bispectral measurements are a good representation of the natural transition processes. The bispectral analysis shows that in the initial stages of transition the dominant nonlinear interaction is forcing by the fundamental to generate a harmonic. Subsequently, mutual forcing of the fundamental and harmonic yield a second harmonic. Difference interactions within the band of unstable disturbances centered on the fundamental and harmonic also generate a low frequency nonlinear interaction. At high amplitudes of the fundamental and harmonic a nonlinear interaction characterized by a low frequency modulation of the fundamental and harmonic then follows. This nonlinear interaction is then the most dominant and precedes the breakdown of the laminar flow.