<p dir="ltr">The Boeing/AFOSR Mach-6 Quiet Tunnel (BAM6QT) was used for a set of experiments studying the effect of isolated roughness elements on boundary-layer transition on a 7° half-angle cone. In quiet flow, the cone was tested at Reynolds numbers of 7.4 × 10e6 /m, 10.2 × 10e6 /m, and 13.0 × 10e6 /m. Tests were also completed at Re = 11.0 × 10e6 /m in noisy flow to examine the effects of freestream noise. The cone was set at both 0° and 6° angle of attack and an isolated, square trip oriented like a diamond with respect to the flow direction was attached before each set of runs. </p><p dir="ltr">Using infrared thermography and pressure transducers, the location of transition onset was estimated for each test. The results followed all expected trends: transition moved upstream as trip height increased, transition occurred earlier at higher freestream Reynolds numbers, and transition was significantly delayed in quiet flow compared to noisy flow. Mean flow solutions were generated to calculate correlation values commonly used to predict transition. Theexperimentaldatawasthenusedinconjunctionwiththesecorrelationvalues to identify a range of critical values that could be used to predict transition behavior. </p><p dir="ltr">Additionally, a z-type schlieren setup was developed for the BAM6QT. Various components were upgraded and standard procedures for aligning the system were developed. A new pulsed laser and high-speed camera were integrated into the system to enable schlieren imaging at up to 1.75M fps. The final configuration allows the schlieren system to be used for various applications with minimal adjustments, and has been utilized in many research projects in the BAM6QT.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Experiments were performed in the Boeing/AFOSR Mach-6 Quiet Tunnel to study the effect of flight-derived discrete roughness elements repeated in an axisymmetric pattern near the nose of a sharp 7° cone. The aim of the roughness array was to simulate natural vehicle roughness and attempt to introduce a deterministic roughness pattern with the ability to cancel out the instabilities caused by the natural roughness. The cone was pitched at a 6° of attack to determine the three-dimensional flow field effects of the roughness elements. Tests were also ran at 0° of attack for comparison. Quiet flow testing included the designed-for freestream unit Reynolds number of 10.8x10⁶, and Reynolds numbers above and below. In noisy flow, comparable Reynolds numbers were also tested at to isolate the effects of noise in a conventional flow wind tunnel.</p><p dir="ltr">Infrared thermography and surface pressure sensors were used to document the behavior of the boundary layer. It was found that the roughness pattern was in general unsuccessful in controlling the added boundary layer instabilities as intended at 6° of attack, but it did create different instability amplitudes and heating patterns. Additionally, it was determined to reduce Mack's second-mode instability amplitudes at 0° of attack.</p><p dir="ltr">Additionally, work was done to document and characterize the roughness patterns found on samples of hypersonic glide vehicles PRIME (SV-5D or X-23) and ASSET (ASV-3). These samples were taken in the form of molded impressions of the surface which were able to be analyzed with an optical profilometer and considered for future experimental distributed roughness studies.</p>

<p dir="ltr">The Boeing-AFOSR Mach-6 Quiet Tunnel (BAM6QT) was used for a set of experiments aiming to characterize the stability regimes of stagnation point injection in noisy and quiet flow across an array of different injected gases. Four gases were used in this experiment: air, helium, carbon dioxide, and argon. These gases were injected at varying thrust coefficients, ranging from 0.0516 to 0.5666, using a 7 degree half-angle cone with a 19 mm radius spherical nose and a single 1.93 mm-radius sonic jet in the center of the model. The primary data collected consists of schlieren images gathered at a sample rate of 76 kHz. These data were then analyzed using a shock tracking software to measure the physical locations of flow features as well as through spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD) to analyze specific modes in the flow.</p><p dir="ltr">Through this analysis, it was observed that three principle modes exist in stagnation point injection regardless of the injecting gas: a high frequency vortex-coupled mode, a low frequency Mach-shock-rigid mode, and a hybrid mode residing between these two modes. The first two modes were observed in all stability regimes, whereas the hybrid mode was only observed in the bifurcated regime. Furthermore, the unsteady regime was observed to be mostly characterized by this first, vortex-coupled mode. Conversely, the steady regime was observed to be driven by the Mach-shock-rigid mode instead. This transition was measured to occur as the thrust coefficient was increased.</p><p dir="ltr">This research also found that freestream noise resulted in an amplified and widened frequency range within the Mach-shock-rigid mode. This same freestream noise did not appear to have an impact on the other two principle modes; however, in some cases the noise produced in the Mach-shock-rigid mode due to this freestream noise did in fact mask the other principle modes.</p><p dir="ltr">Lastly, it was observed that the thrust coefficient, in and of itself, is not the sole indicator of stability in stagnation point injection. Across the different injected gases in this research, transition between the stability regimes did not in fact occur at a constant thrust coefficient value. Additionally, even within the same injected gas, this transition did not occur at the same thrust coefficient value between noisy and quiet runs—indicating an effect of freestream noise on stability.</p>

<p>Air intakes are a fundamental part of all high speed airbreathing propulsion concepts. The main purpose of an intake is to capture and compress freestream air for the engine. At hypersonic speeds, the intake’s surface and shock structure effectively slow the airflow through ram-air compression. In supersonic-combustion ramjets, the captured airflow remains supersonic and generates complicated shock structures. The design of these systems require careful evaluation of proposed operating conditions and relevant aerodynamic phenomena. The physics of these systems, such as the intake’s operability range, mass capture efficiency, back-pressure resiliency, and intake unstart margins are all open areas of research. </p> <p><br></p> <p>A high speed intake, dubbed the Indiana Intake Testbed, was developed for experimentation within the Boeing-AFOSR Mach 6 Quiet Tunnel at Purdue University. This inward-turning, mixed compression intake was developed from osculating axisymmetric theory and uses a streamtracing routine to create a shape-transitioned geometry. To account for boundary layer growth, a viscous correction was implemented on the intake’s compression surfaces. This comprehensive independent design code was pursued to generate an unrestricted geometry that satisfies academic inquiry into fluid dynamic interactions relevant to intakes. Additionally, the design code contains built-in analysis tools that are compared against CFD calculations and experimental data. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Two blockage models were constructed and outfitted with Kulite pressure transducers to detect possible intake start and unstart effects. Due to an error in the design code, the preliminary blockage models’ lower surfaces were oversized. The two intake models were tested over a freestream Reynolds number sweep, under noisy and quiet flow, at one non-zero angle of attack, and at a singular back-pressure condition. Back-pressure effects acted to unstart the intake and provide a comparison between forced-unstart and started states. The experimental campaign cataloged both tunnel starting and inlet starting conditions, which informed the design of the finalized model. The finalized model is presented herein. Future experiments to study isolator shock-trains, shock-wave boundary layer interactions, and possible instances of boundary layer transition on the intake’s compression surface are planned. </p>