Instability of supersonic compression ramp flow

Abstract

The instability of supersonic compression ramp flow is investigated. It is assumed that the Reynolds number is large and that the governing equations are the unsteady triple-deck equations. The mean flow is first calculated by solving the steady equations for various scaled ramp angles α, and the numerical results suggest that there is no singularity for increasing ramp angles. The stability of the flow is investigated using two approaches, first by solving the linearized unsteady equations and looking for global modes proportional to eλt. In the second approach, the linearized unsteady equations are solved numerically with various initial conditions. Whereas no globally unsteady modes could be found for the range of ramp angles studied, the numerical simulations show the formation of wavepacket type disturbances which grow and convect and reach large amplitudes. However, the numerical results show large variations with grid size even on very fine grids. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.