Characterization and Aero-Optic Correction of a Forced Two-Dimensional Weakly Compressible Shear Layer

Experimental data are presented consisting of fluid mechanic and optical measurements made in a forced two-dimensional weakly compressible subsonic shear layer. The measurements were made in the University of Notre Dame's compressible shear-layer facility that mixes high- and low-speed flows with speeds up to M = 1.0. The forcing was performed using voice-coil actuators mounted at the trailing edge of the splitter plate separating the high- and low-speed flows at the inlet to the mixing section. The experimental results are used to develop a simple yet effective feedforward adaptive-optic correction strategy for the optical aberrations imposed by the shear layer on a traversing laser beam.