Investigating the Shock Wave-Boundary Layer Interaction in High-Enthalpy Hypersonic Flow Over a Cone-Slice-Ramp Geometry

Shock wave-boundary layer interactions (SBLI) in hypersonic flows critically influence surface pressure loads and heat transfer, yet the individual roles of stagnation enthalpy and Reynolds number remain poorly understood in high‐enthalpy, low‐Reynolds number regimes. This work employs a double‐pass schlieren imaging system in a hypersonic shock tunnel to visualize the SBLI generated from laminar flow over a cone–slice–ramp model while independently varying the stagnation enthalpy from 4.15 to 12.6 MJ/kg and unit Reynolds number from 290,000 to 700,000. At constant Reynolds number, higher enthalpy shifts both the separation and reattachment points downstream and shortens the separation region. At constant enthalpy, increasing the Reynolds number shifts the separation point upstream to a lesser extent and extends the separated flow, while the reattachment location remains unchanged. These results reveal the coupled roles of non-equilibrium effects and viscous forces in hypersonic SBLI dynamics.