Boundary-layer stabilization by an ultrasonically absorptive material on a cone in hypersonic flow: numerical investigations

Abstract

The damping of acoustic second mode instabilities by passive porous surfaces is investigated numerically and compared with experiments for different hypersonic boundary-layer flows. The used geometry is a blunt 7° half-angle cone model with exchangeable nose. The cone surface consists partly of an ultrasonically absorptive material, which has a natural, random porosity. For the analyses of the second modes, the DLR stability code NOLOT, NOnLocal Transition analysis code, is used. The influence of the nose radius and the unit Reynolds number on the second modes is investigated using a smooth surface. These results of the smooth surface are compared with those of the porous surface to study the damping effect on the second modes and the transition shift. The numerical results are compared with wind tunnel measurements, which were performed in the DLR High Enthalpy Shock Tunnel Göttingen.