Side Forces Resulting from Forward-Facing Steps and Injection Through a Slot in a Supersonic Flow

Citation

Cooper, Wayne Robert (1965) Side Forces Resulting from Forward-Facing Steps and Injection Through a Slot in a Supersonic Flow. Engineer's thesis, California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/GFPQ-FN54. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-09122002-121134

Abstract

The pressure fields in front of steps and slot injections in a turbulent boundary layer were studied in an attempt to determine scaling parameters for the resulting side forces. Step and injection data of several experimenters, along with injection data taken by the author, were analyzed to determine the nature of the flow field. Observations of these studies and simplified theories led to simple dependence of the pressure field upon the variables and parameters of the flow. The step height was found to be a linear scaling parameter for the pressure field between separation and the step, and an equivalent step height with the same scaling quality was found for the injection data. A simple Mach number parameter was developed and found to be suitable for scaling the magnitude of the pressures. A graphical method based on observations of the character of the flow field was used to determine the point of separation for the injection data. The scaling parameters were applied to nitrogen and helium injection data taken at free stream Mach numbers of 2.56, 2.61, and 3.5 . The results indicate that the pressure field, and hence the side force, can be suitably scaled by use of the simple parameters developed here.

Thesis Files