Numerical Investigation of Second Mode Attenuation over Carbon/Carbon Surfaces on a Sharp Slender Cone

TL;DR

This study uses numerical simulations to analyze how carbon/carbon surfaces attenuate second-mode instability waves over a hypersonic cone, revealing frequency-dependent absorption effectiveness.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach combining aeroacoustic analysis with impedance boundary conditions to evaluate ultrasonically absorptive C/C surfaces for hypersonic flow control.

Findings

Higher attenuation of 350kHz waves compared to 270kHz.

C/C surfaces absorb acoustic energy more effectively at higher frequencies.

Simulation results align with experimental observations of second-mode waves.

Abstract

We have carried out axisymmetric numerical simulations of a spatially developing hypersonic boundary layer over a sharp 7$^{\circ{}}$-half-angle cone at $M_\infty=7.5$ inspired by the experimental investigations by Wagner (2015). Simulations are first performed with impermeable (or solid) walls with a one-time broadband pulse excitation applied upstream to determine the most convectively-amplified frequencies resulting in the range 260kHz -- 400kHz, consistent with experimental observations of second-mode instability waves. Subsequently, we introduce harmonic disturbances via continuous periodic suction and blowing at 270kHz and 350kHz. For each of these forcing frequencies complex impedance boundary conditions (IBC), modeling the acoustic response of two different carbon/carbon (C/C) ultrasonically absorptive porous surfaces, are applied at the wall. The IBCs are derived as an output of a pore-scale aeroacoustic analysis -- the inverse Helmholtz Solver (iHS) -- which is able to return the broadband real and imaginary components of the surface-averaged impedance. The introduction of the IBCs in all cases leads to a significant attenuation of the harmonically-forced second-mode wave. In particular, we observe a higher attenuation rate of the introduced waves with frequency of 350kHz in comparison with 270kHz, and, along with the iHS impedance results, we establish that the C/C surfaces absorb acoustic energy more effectively at higher frequencies.