Shock interaction induced heat flux augmentation in hypersonic flows

This paper gives a summary of dedicated experiments on the shock interaction induced heat flux augmentation, by means of tests carried out in the hypersonic wind tunnel H2K. The first test case is devoted to the shock boundary layer interaction on a flat plate. The interaction impact has been varied by changing the free stream parameters and the position of the shock generator, i.e. shock impingement point on the plate. The heat flux distribution has been determined using surface temperature data measured by an infrared camera. The heat flux data combined with free stream flow parameters allow calculation of the Stanton number evolution. The second test case is a double sphere configuration with a variable axial and lateral distance between the spheres. This allowed measurements of the heat flux augmentation induced by a shock-shock interaction along the complete frontal surface of the second sphere, which was hit by the bow shock of the first sphere. Shock-shock and shock-boundary layer interaction effects are studied by means of experiments on the IXV flight configuration with double control flaps. Depending on the test configuration and flow parameters, shock interaction induced heat flux augmentation factors up to seven have been measured. Graphical abstract