Control of an Oblique Shock/Boundary-Layer Interaction with Aeroelastic Mesoflaps

Aeroelastic mesoe aps for recirculating transpiration have been investigated in an effort to control shock/boundary-layer interactions (SBLIs) through passive cavity recirculation. The mesoe ap concept utilizes a matrix of small e apscovering an enclosed cavity that aredesigned to undergo local aeroelasticdee ection to achieve proper mass bleed or injection when subjected to gasdynamic pressure loading. Experiments were performed to investigate the applicability of the mesoe ap concept for oblique shock interaction by employing shadowgraph e ow visualizations, surface pressure measurements, and mean and e uctuating velocity measurements, along the spanwise midplane of the shock intersection. The experiments were conducted in a Mach 2.41 supersonic wind tunnel operating at a unit Reynolds number of 57 £106 mi1. With the thickest mesoe ap arrays in place, the leading shock formed at the location of the e rst e ap and the boundary-layer thickness at shock impingement was greaterduetoe owinjectionthroughtheupstreame aps.However,thethinnestmesoe aparraysyielded asomewhat reduced boundary-layer thickness downstream of the interaction as a result of the tangential bleeding by the last e aps. Stagnation pressure proe les for the thinnest arrays also showed improved recovery downstream of the SBLI as compared to thesolid-wall case. However, furtherstudy isneeded to investigate three-dimensional effectsand to determine whether this control strategy provides signie cant performance improvements for e ow conditions more consistent with actual inlets.