Experimental Study of Hypersonic Turbulent Flow Separation Generated by a Compression Ramp

The flow structure within a hypersonic separation region was experimentally examined. The separation was generated by a series of three compressions with ramp angles of 24, 30, and 36 degrees. Wind tunnel experiments were performed at Mach 5.72, where the unit Reynolds number was varied from 3 to 9 × 10^6 /m, which, in-turn, allowed the inflow boundary layer state to vary from laminar to turbulent flow. Schlieren imaging was used to visualize the separation region. IR thermography was used to measure surface temperature and heat flux. Focused laser differential interferometry (FLDI) and Kulite pressure transducers were employed to obtain spectral data upstream, downstream, and within the separation region. Presented in this paper are the results for three compression ramp angles over a range of Reynolds numbers.