Experimental and numerical investigation of a shock wave impingementon a cylinder

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study and a numerical simulation of the impingement of an oblique shock wave on a cylinder. The investigation was undertaken to attain two goals. The first goal was to experimentally investigate and document the complex three-dimensional shock wave and boundary-layer interaction occurring in practical problems, such as the shock-wave impingement from the Shuttle nose on an external fuel tank, and store interference on a supersonic tactical aircraft. The second goal was to carry out a comparison of experimental measurements and numerical computations of such complex flows. The experimental results revealed a complex flowfield with two separation zones, regions of cross flow, reflected shocks, and expansion fans. The numerical predictions agreed surprisingly well with the measured results, both on the surface and in the flowfield. However, some important flow details, such as the size and extent of the separation, and the reflected shock-wave system, were not predicted.