Control of bow shock induced three-dimensional separation using bleed through holes

TL;DR

This study investigates controlling three-dimensional flow separation caused by a protrusion at Mach 2.87 using passive bleed holes, demonstrating significant reduction in separation length and shock oscillations through wind tunnel experiments and advanced analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a novel passive bleed control method using strategically placed holes to reduce flow separation and shock oscillations in supersonic flow over a protrusion.

Findings

Up to 0.93δ reduction in separation length.

Bleeding from high-pressure regions delays separation.

Reduction in shock oscillation amplitudes with dual-hole bleeding.

Abstract

The unsteady three-dimensional separated flow on a wall induced by a square protrusion (approximately twice the local boundary layer thickness in width and height), and its control by means of passive suction through holes, is investigated using wind tunnel experiments at Mach $2.87$. The baseline flow without any control was characterized and compared against the cases with bleed. A bow-shaped separation line on the wall with a mid-span separation length of $5.57\delta$ from protrusion face was traced from oil-flow visualization. The averaged pressure distribution surveyed using static pressure ports placed on the wall has mapped plateau, high-pressure, and a low-pressure region in the separated flow, distinctive to three-dimensional interactions. Ten control configurations were tested with suction holes placed along mid-span in the different pressure zones. Significant spanwise `Mean Reduction in Separation Length' of up to $0.93\delta$ was observed from oil-flow visualization. A comparison of observations from various control configurations suggested that bleeding the flow from the high-pressure region could in general delay the separation and reduce the bubble size. Further, time-resolved schlieren visualizations have confirmed reduction in both `mid-span separation length' and `shock-intermittent-region' with the introduction of suction in high-pressure region. Fourier and Proper Orthogonal Decomposition analysis done on the schlieren data has confirmed the presence of low-frequency separation-shock oscillations at Strouhal Numbers of order $10^{-2}$, both with and without control. Furthermore, the amplitudes of separation-shock oscillations in the spectrum were reduced with the introduction of suction simultaneously from two holes placed in high and low-pressure regions.