The growing requirements to achieve hypersonic flights, as in the case of reentry vehicles, pose a serious challenge to the designers. This demands an understanding of the features of hypersonic flow and its effect on hypersonic vehicles. Hypersonic shock tunnels are one of the most widely used facilities for the purpose of obtaining valuable design data by conducting experiments on scaled down models. They are operated by conventional shock tubes by rupturing metal diaphragms placed between the driver and driven sections of the shock tube. Shock tunnels are being extensively used in spite of some of the drawbacks they possess. Due to the varying nature of metal diaphragm rupture, reproducibility of the experiment results is difficult to obtain. Damage to model and inner surface of the shock tube can happen when the diaphragm petal breaks away from the diaphragm. Lastly the time consuming diaphragm replacement process is not desired in applications which require quick loading of shock waves on the specimen. All these disadvantages call for the replacement of the diaphragm mode of operation with a diaphragmless mode of operation for the generation of shock waves. The main objective of the present study is to design and demonstrate the working of a diaphragmless hypersonic shock tunnel. The motivation for the present study comes from the fact that the diaphragmless operation of a shock tunnel has not been reported so far in the open literature. All the research works carried out deal with diaphragmless drivers operating only a shock tube. In the present work, the conventional metal diaphragm is substituted by fast acting pneumatic valves which serve the purpose of quickly opening the driven section of the shock tube to allow the driver gas to rush in, resulting in the formation of a shock wave. To design a diaphragmless driver, a detailed study of the shock formation process is accomplished which helps in understanding the effect of valve opening time on the shock formation distance. Also the theoretical basis for the design of a pneumatic cylinder is understood. Following the theoretical studies, three types of diaphragmless drivers are designed and tested. The first setup incorporates a rubber membrane, which acts as a valve. The rubber membrane when bulged closes the mouth of the driven section and on retraction the driven section is opened to the driver gas. The second and the third setups utilise two different types of double acting pneumatic cylinders. Experimental results of the three diaphragmless drivers operating a shock tube are analysed and compared with the ideal shock tube theory. Better repeatability in terms of shock Mach number is shown with all three diaphragmless shock tubes when compared with a conventionally operated shock tube. Finally, the best among the three systems is identified to operate the hypersonic shock tunnel 2 (HST2) facility of the Shock Waves laboratory, IISc. Demonstration of the working of the diaphragmless shock tunnel is shown by performing heat transfer measurements on a 3 mm backward facing step flat plate model. The experimental results are compared with those obtained in a conventional shock tunnel. CFD studies on diaphragmless shock tube model are done to have an idea on the flow in the shock tube there by identifying the shock formation distance. ANSYS-CFX package is used for this purpose. Further, results from the numerical simulation of hypersonic flow over the backward facing step model are compared with the experimental results thus validating the code.

No description available.

Modern turbomachines are designed towards thinner, lighter and highly loaded blades. This gives rise to increased sensitivity to flow induced vibrations such as flutter, which leads to structure failure in a short period of time if not sufficiently damped. Although numerical tools are more and more reliable, flutter prediction still depends on a large degree on simplified models. In addition, the critical nature of flutter, resulting in poor welldocumented real cases in the open literature, and the lack of experimental database typical of engine flows make its apprehension even more challenging. In that context, the present thesis is dedicated to study flutter in recent turbines through aerodynamic analysis of subsonic or supersonic flows in response to a prescribed vibratory mode of the structure. The objective is to highlight some mechanisms potentially responsible for flutter in order to be in better position when designing blades. The strategy consists in leading both experimental and numerical investigations. The experimental part is based on a worldwide unique annular turbine sector cascade employed for measuring the aeroelastic response by means of the aerodynamic influence coefficient technique. The cascade comprises seven low pressure gas turbine blades one of which can oscillate in a controlled way as a rigid body. Aeroelastic responses are measured at various mechanical and aerodynamic parameters: pure and combined modeshapes, reduced frequency, Mach number, incidence angle. In addition to turbulence level measurements, the database aims at assessing the influence of these parameters on the aerodynamic damping, at validating the linear combination principle and at providing input for numerical tools. The numerical part is based on unsteady computations linearized in the frequency domain and performed in the traveling wave mode. The focus is put on two industrial space turbines: 2D computations are performed on an integrally bladed disk, also called blisk; its very low viscous material damping results in complex motions with combined modes and extremely high reduced frequency. The blisk operates at low subsonic conditions without strong non-linearities. Although the blades have been predicted aeroelastically stable, an original methodology based on elementary decompositions of the blade motion is presented to identify the destabilizing movements. The results suggest that the so-called classical flutter is surprisingly prone to occur. Moreover, the aerodynamic damping has been found extremely sensitive to the interblade phase angle and cut-on/cut-off conditions.* 3D computations are then performed on a supersonic turbine, which features shockwaves and boundary layer separation. In contrast, the blade motion is of elementary nature, i.e. purely axial. The blades have been predicted aeroelastically unstable for backward traveling waves and stable for forward traveling waves. The low reduced frequencies allow quasi-steady analysis, which still account for flutter mechanisms: the shock wave motion establishes the boundary between stable and unstable configurations.

Submitted by Johnny Rodrigues (johnnyrodrigues@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-08-11T13:32:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ERIVALDO DINIZ DE LIMA - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGMAT 2015..pdf: 2368610 bytes, checksum: 3db3b8e45efcb83c955dae60371f8f4b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-11T13:32:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ERIVALDO DINIZ DE LIMA - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGMAT 2015..pdf: 2368610 bytes, checksum: 3db3b8e45efcb83c955dae60371f8f4b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08 / Neste trabalho consideramos um sistema de leis de conservação proveniente da modelagem matemática de um escoamento bifásico unidimensional num meio poroso, preenchido de óleo e água com polímero dissolvido nela e levando em conta a adsorção de parte do polímero pela rocha. Usando a técnica das curvas de onda apresentamos a construção detalhada da solução do problema de Riemann para dados iniciais arbitrários no espaço de estados. Usamos a condição de entropia do per l viscoso para as ondas de choque com salto na concentração do polímero e a condição de Oleinik-Liu para os choques com concentração constante do polímero e salto na saturação da água / In this work we consider a system of conservation laws from the mathematical modeling of a one-dimensional two-phase flow in porous media, filled with oil and water with dissolved polymer in it and taking into account the adsorption of part of the polymer by the rock. Using the wave curves technique, we present a detailed construction of the Riemann problem solution for arbitrary initial data on the state space. We use the entropy condition of the viscous pro le for the shock waves with jumps in the polymer concentration and Oleynik-Liu condition for the shocks with constant concentration of polymer and jumps on the water saturation.

L’interaction onde de choc/couche limite en écoulement transsonique autour de profils aérodynamiques est étudiée numériquement utilisant différentes classes de modélisation de la turbulence. Les approches utilisées sont celles de modèles URANS et de méthodes hybrides RANS-LES. L’emploi d’une correction de compressibilité pour les fermetures à une équation est aussi évalué. Premièrement, la séparation intermittente induite par le choc sur un profil supercritique en conditions d’incidence proches de l’angle critique d’apparition du tremblement est analysée. Suite à des simulations URANS, la modélisation statistique la mieux adaptée est étudiée et utilisée dans l’approche DDES (Delayed Detached-Eddy Simulation). L’étude de la topologie de l’écoulement, des pressions pariétales et champs de vitesse statistiques montrent que les principales caractéristiques de l’oscillation auto-entretenue du choc sont capturées par les simulations. De plus, la DDES prédit des fluctuations secondaires de l’écoulement qui n’apparaissent pas en URANS. L’étude de l’interface instationnaire RANS-LES montre que la DDES évite le MSD (modeled stress depletion) pour les phases de l’écoulement attaché ou séparé. Le problème de la ‘zone grise’ et de son influence sur les résultats est considéré. Les conclusions de l’étude sur le profil supercritique est ensuite appliquées à l’étude numérique d’un profil transsonique laminaire. Dans ce contexte, l’effet de la position de la transition de la couche limite sur les caractéristiques de deux régimes d’interaction choc/couche limite sélectionnés est étudié. En conditions de tremblement, les simulations montrent une forte influence du point de transition sur l’amplitude du mouvement du choc et sur l’instationnarité globale de l’écoulement. / Shock wave/boundary layer interactions arising in the transonic flow over airfoils are studied numerically using different levels of turbulence modeling. The simulations employ standard URANS models suitable for aerodynamics and hybrid RANS-LES methods. The use of a compressibility correction for one-equation closures is also considered. First, the intermittent shock-induced separation occurring over a supercritical airfoil at an angle of attack close to the buffet onset boundary is investigated. After a set of URANS computations, a scale-resolving simulation is performed using the best statistical approach in the context of a Delayed Detached-Eddy Simulation (DDES). The analysis of the flow topology and of the statistical wall-pressure distributions and velocity fields show that the main features of the self-sustained shock-wave oscillation are predicted by the simulations. The DDES also captures secondary flow fluctuations which are not predicted by URANS. An examination of the unsteady RANS-LES interface shows that the DDES successfully prevents modeled-stress depletion whether the flow is attached or separated. The gray area issue and its impact on the results are also addressed. The conclusions from the supercritical airfoil simulations are then applied to the numerical study of a laminar transonic profile. Following a preliminary characterization of the airfoil aerodynamics, the effect of the boundary layer transition location on the properties of two selected shock wave/boundary layer interaction regimes is assessed. In transonic buffet conditions, the simulations indicate a strong dependence of the shock-wave motion amplitude and of the global flow unsteadiness on the tripping location.

Ce travail s’intéresse à l’analyse expérimentale du développement de la zone de mélange turbulente (ZMT) produite par une instabilité de Richtmyer-Meshkov (IRM). Les expériences sont réalisées au sein d’un tube à chocs vertical, et l’analyse s’appuie sur des mesures simultanées mettant en œuvre des techniques expérimentales de type capteurs de pression pariétaux, visualisations strioscopiques résolues en temps et mesures de vitesse par Vélocimétrie Laser Doppler (LDV). Une caractérisation de l’installation expérimentale est tout d’abord effectuée en situation homogène (air pur, sans mélange), afin de déterminer la qualité de l’écoulement de base et connaître le niveau de turbulence de fond du tube à chocs. Les configurations de mélange, principalement entre de l’air et de l’hexafluorure de soufre (SF6), sont ensuite abordées. On s’intéresse dans un premier temps aux caractéristiques globales de la zone de mélange : en particulier à l’évolution de son épaisseur et à son taux de croissance. Plusieurs configurations de mélange sont étudiées en faisant varier différents paramètres expérimentaux tels que la hauteur de la veine d’essais du tube à chocs, la forme de la perturbation initiale de l’interface entre les deux gaz et le nombre d’Atwood, dans le but de déterminer leur influence sur le développement de la ZMT. On montre ainsi une sensibilité du taux de croissance post-rechoc à plusieurs de ces paramètres. Des comparaisons avec des simulations numériques réalisées par nos partenaires du Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique (CEA) montrent des tendances similaires entre expériences et simulations sur ce point. L’étude est ensuite complétée par une caractérisation plus locale de la ZMT, en mesurant les niveaux de turbulence en différents points de la veine d’essais à l’aide de la LDV. Après avoir quantifié les contraintes de convergence statistique imposées par l’expérience pour ce type de mesures, on donne une estimation des intensités turbulentes produites par l’écoulement de mélange à différents stades de son développement. / This experimental study sheds some light on the development of the turbulent mixing zone (TMZ) arising from a Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI). The experiments are conducted in a vertical shock tube, and the analysis relies on simultaneous measurements involving pressuretransducers, time-resolved Schlieren visualizations and Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV). In a first step, a thorough characterization of the experimental apparatus is conducted in order to qualify the basic flow configuration corresponding to homogeneous situations (pure air withoutmixing), and to evaluate the « background » turbulence level of the shock tube. Mixing configurations (mainly between air and sulfur hexafluoride, SF6) are then investigated. We first focus on a global description of the mixing zone such as the time evolution of its thickness and the corresponding growth rate. We consider several mixing configurations, varying the length of the test section, the shape of the initial interface between the two gases and the Atwood number. A clear influence of some of these parameters is shown on the the post-reshock increasing rate of the mixing zone, in good accordance with numerical results obtained from the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA, french atomic energy commission). A more local description of the flow is then obtained in a second step by measuring the turbulence levels at different locations inside the test section thanks to the LDV technique. After quantifying the issues linked to the statistical convergence of the turbulent quantities in such specific configurations, we provide an estimation of the turbulent intensities produced by the mixing at various stages of its development.

Este trabalho estuda o fenômeno de evaporação rápida em jatos de líquidos superaquecidos ou metaestáveis numa região 2D. O fenômeno se inicia, neste caso, quando um jato na fase líquida a alta temperatura e pressão, emerge de um diminuto bocal projetando-se numa câmara de baixa pressão, inferior à pressão de saturação. Durante a evolução do processo, ao cruzar-se a curva de saturação, se observa que o fluido ainda permanece no estado de líquido superaquecido. Então, subitamente o líquido superaquecido muda de fase por meio de uma onda de evaporação oblíqua. Esta mudança de fase transforma o líquido superaquecido numa mistura bifásica com alta velocidade distribuída em várias direções e que se expande com velocidades supersônicas cada vez maiores, até atingir a pressão a jusante, e atravessando antes uma onda de choque. As equações que governam o fenômeno são as equações de conservação da massa, conservação da quantidade de movimento, e conservação da energia, incluindo uma equação de estado precisa. Devido ao fenômeno em estudo estar em regime permanente, um método de diferenças finitas com modelo estacionário e esquema de MacCormack é aplicado. Tendo em vista que este modelo não captura a onda de choque diretamente, um segundo modelo de falso transiente com o esquema de \"shock-capturing\": \"Dispersion-Controlled Dissipative\" (DCD) é desenvolvido e aplicado até atingir o regime permanente. Resultados numéricos com o código ShoWPhasT-2D v2 e testes experimentais foram comparados e os resultados numéricos com código DCD-2D v1 foram analisados. / This study analyses the rapid evaporation of superheated or metastable liquid jets in a two-dimensional region. The phenomenon is triggered, in this case, when a jet in its liquid phase at high temperature and pressure, emerges from a small aperture nozzle and expands into a low pressure chamber, below saturation pressure. During the evolution of the process, after crossing the saturation curve, one observes that the fluid remains in a superheated liquid state. Then, suddenly the superheated liquid changes phase by means of an oblique evaporation wave. This phase change transforms the liquid into a biphasic mixture at high velocity pointing toward different directions, with increasing supersonic velocity as an expansion process takes place to the chamber back pressure, after going through a compression shock wave. The equations which govern this phenomenon are: the equations of conservation of mass, momentum and energy and an equation of state. Due to its steady state process, the numerical simulation is by means of a finite difference method using the McCormack method of Discretization. As this method does not capture shock waves, a second finite difference method is used to reach this task, the method uses the transient equations version of the conservation laws, applying the Dispersion-Controlled Dissipative (DCD) scheme. Numerical results using the code ShoWPhasT-2D v2 and experimental data have been compared, and the numerical results from the DCD-2D v1 have been analysed.

Shock wave-boundary layer interactions (SWBLIs) have been studied ex-tensively due to their practical importance in the design of high speed ve-hicles. These interactions, especially the ones leading to shock induced separation are typically unsteady in nature and can lead to large fluctuating pressure and thermal loads on the structure. The resulting shock oscil-lations are generally composed of high-frequency small-scale oscillations and low-frequency large-scale oscillations, the source of the later being a subject of intense recent debate. Motivated by these debates, we study in the present work, the SWBLI at a compression ramp and on a forward-facing step (FFS) at a Mach number of 2.5. In the case of compression ramps, a few ramp angles are studied ranging from small (10 degree) ramp angle to relatively large values of up to 28 degrees. The FFS configuration, which consists of a 90 degree step of height h, may be thought of as an extreme case of the compression ramp geometry, with the main geometri-cal parameter here being (h/δ), where δis the thickness of the oncoming boundary layer. This configuration is less studied and has some inherent advantages for experimentally studying SWBLI as the size of the separa-tion bubble is large. In the present experimental study, we use high-speed schlieren, unsteady wall pressure measurements, surface oil flow visualiza-tion, and detailed particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements in two orthogonal planes to help understand the features of SWBLI in the com-pression ramp geometry and the forward-facing step case. The SWBLI at a compression ramp has been more widely studied, and our measurements show the general features that have been seen in earlier studies. The upstream boundary layer is found to separate close to the ramp corner forming a separation bubble. The streamwise length of the separa-tion bubble is found to increase with the ramp angle, with a consequent shift of the shock foot further upstream. At very small ramp angles up to 10 degrees, there is no evidence of separation, while at large ramp angles of 28 degrees, the separation bubble extends upstream to about 3.5δ(δ=boundary layer thickness). In all cases, the separation bubble is however very small in the wall normal direction, typically known to be about 0.1δ, and hence is difficult to directly measure in experiments using PIV. Shock foot measurements using PIV show that the shock has a spanwise ripple, which seems directly related to the high-and low-speed streaks in the in-coming boundary layer as recently shown by Ganapathisubramani et al. (2007). The forward-facing step configuration may be thought of as an extreme case of the compression ramp geometry, with a ramp angle of 90 degrees. This configuration has not been extensively studied, and is experimentally convenient due to the large separation bubbles formed ahead of the step. In the present work, extensive measurements of the mean and unsteady flow around this configuration have been done, especially for the case of h/δ=2, where his the step height. Pressure measurements in this case, show clear low-frequency motions of the shock at non-dimensional frequencies of about fh/U∞≈ 0.02. In this case, PIV measurements show the pres-ence of a large mean separation bubble extending to about 4hupstream and about 1hvertically. Instantaneous PIV measurements have been done in both cross-stream (streamwise and wall-normal plane) and in the span-wise (streamwise-spanwise) plane. Instantaneous cross-stream PIV mea-surements show significant variations of the shock location and angle, be-sides large variations in the recirculation region (or separation bubble), this being determined as the area having streamwise velocities less than zero. From a large set of individual PIV instantaneous fields, we can estimate the correlation of the measured shock location to both downstream effects like the area of the recirculation region, and upstream effects like the presence of high-/low-speed streaks in the oncoming boundary layer. We find that the shock location measured from data outside the boundary layer is more highly correlated to downstream effects as measured through the recircu-lation area compared to upstream effects in the boundary layer. However, we find that the shock foot within the boundary layer has ripples in the spanwise direction which are well correlated to the presence of high-/low-speed streaks in the incoming boundary layer. These spanwise ripples are however found to be small (less than one h) compared to the highly three-dimensional shape of the recirculation region with spanwise variation of the order of 3 step heights. In summary, the study shows that the separated region ahead of the step is highly three-dimensional. The shock foot within the boundary layer is found to have ripples that are well correlated to fluctuations in the in-coming boundary layer. However, we find that the large-scale nearly two-dimensional shock motions outside the boundary layer are not well cor-related to the fluctuations in the boundary layer, but are instead well cor-related with the spanwise-averaged separation bubble extent. Hence, the present results suggest that for the forward-facing step configuration, it is the downstream effect caused by the separation bubble that leads to the observed low-frequency shock motions.

La défaillance des pièces mécaniques est très souvent initiée par un défaut de surface. Par conséquent, la génération de contraintes résiduelles compressives sur des pièces mécaniques via une déformation plastique hétérogène améliore la tenue en fatigue et augmente la durée de vie des pièces. Parmi les procédés permettant d'introduire des contraintes résiduelles dans les pièces, le traitement par choc laser est plus intéressant à plusieurs titres. D'une part, il permet de produire des pressions en surface du matériau de l'ordre de 1 à 6 GPa sur de courtes durées d'impulsion allant de 3 à 30 nanosecondes. D'autre part, il offre la possibilité d'introduire des contraintes résiduelles de compression sur une certaine profondeur tout en conservant l'état initial de la pièce traitée. Ainsi, les simulations numériques par réalisation de modèles simples permettent de cerner les physiques mises en jeux. Dans cette perspective, la méthode semi-analytique offre d'énormes avantages, notamment la simplicité des modèles et la réduction des temps de calcul. Cependant, cette méthode n’a jamais été étendue aux problème dynamiques. Dans cette thèse la méthode semi-analytique a été étendue aux problèmes dynamiques et le modèle mis en place été appliqué pour la simulation du procédé de choc Laser / The failure of the mechanical parts is very often initiated by a surface defects. Consequently, the generation of compressive residual stresses on mechanical parts by introducing a heterogeneous plastic strain improves the resistance to fatigue and increases the lifetime of the parts. Among the processes making it possible to introduce residual stresses into the parts, the laser shock peening is more interesting for several reasons. On the one hand, it makes it possible to produce pressures on the surface of material of about 1 to 6 going GPa over short pulse times from 3 to 30 nanoseconds. In addition, he gives the opportunity of introducing residual stresses of compression on a certain depth while preserving the initial state of the treated part. The numerical simulation becomes necessary to determine the best physical phenomena involved. Thus, the semi-analytical method offers a lot of advantages, in particular the simplicity of the models and the computation times saving. This method was never extended to the dynamic problems. In this thesis the semi-analytical method was extended to the dynamic problems and the model implemented is applied for the simulation of the Laser process of shock.

The interaction of a shock wave and boundary layer often occurs in high speed flows. For sufficiently strong shock strengths the boundary layer separates, generating shock patterns in the contiguous inviscid flow (termed strong interactions); which may also affect the performances of the systems where they occur, demanding control of the interaction to enhance the performances. The case of impinging shock wave boundary layer interaction is of fundamental importance and can throw light on the physics of the interaction in general. Although various aspects of the interaction are studied at supersonic speeds, the complexities involved in the interaction at hypersonic speeds are not well understood. Of importance is the high total enthalpy associated with hypersonic flows the simulation of which requires shock tunnels. The present experimental study focuses on the interaction between strong impinging shock and boundary layer in hypersonic flows of moderate to high total enthalpies. Experiments are performed in hypersonic shock tunnels HST-2 and FPST (free piston driven shock tunnel), at nominal Mach numbers 6 and 8, with total enthalpy ranging from 1.3 MJ/kg to 6 MJ/kg, and freestream Reynolds number ranging from 0.3 million/m to 4 million/m. The strong impinging shock is generated by a wedge of angle 30.960 to the freestream. The shock is made to impinge on a flat plate (made of Hylem which is adiabatic, except for one case with plate made of aluminium which allows heat transfer). The position of (inviscid) shock impingement may be varied (from 55 mm from the leading edge to 100 mm from the leading edge) by moving the plate back and forth on the fixture which holds the wedge and the plate. Expectedly the strong shock generates a large separation bubble of length comparable to the distance of the location of shock impingement from the leading edge of the plate. Such large separation bubbles are typical of supersonic/hypersonic intakes at off-design operation. The evolution of the flow field- including the evolution of impinging shock and subsequent evolution of the large separation bubble- within the short test duration of the shock tunnels is one of the main concerns addressed in the study. Time resolved schlieren flow visualizations using high speed camera, surface pressure measurements using PCB, kulite and MEMS sensors, surface convective heat transfer measurements using platinum thin film sensors are the flow diagnostics used. From the time resolved visualizations and surface pressure measurements with the fast response sensors, the flow field, even with a separation bubble as large as 75 mm (at Mach 5.96, with shock impingement at 95 mm from the leading edge) was found to be established within the short shock tunnel test time. The effects of various parameters- freestream Mach number, distance of the location of shock impingement, freestream total enthalpy and wall heat transfer- on the interaction are investigated. With increase in Mach number from 5.96 to 8.67, for nearly the same shock impingement locations (95 mm and 100 mm from the leading edge respectively), the separation length decreased from 75 mm to 60 mm despite the fact that the shocks are doubly stronger at the higher Mach number. Inflectional trend in separation length was observed with enthalpy at nominal Mach number 8- separation length increased from 60 mm at 1.6 MJ/kg to 70 mm at 2.4 MJ/kg, and decreased drastically to ~40 mm at 6 MJ/kg (when dissociations are expected). The separation length Lsep for all the experiments, except the experiments at 6 MJ/kg, were found to be large, i.e. comparable with the distance xi of location of shock impingement from the leading edge of the flat plate. The scaled separation length (with Hylem wall) was found to obey the inviscid similarity law proposed from the present study for large separation bubbles with strong impinging shocks, where M∞ is the freestream Mach number, p∞ is the freestream pressure and pr is the measured reattachment pressure; this holds for freestream total enthalpy ranging from 1.3 MJ/kg to 2.4 MJ/kg and Reynolds number (based on location of shock impingement) ranging from 1x105 to 4x105. While the increase in separation length from 1.6 MJ/kg to 2.4 MJ/kg could thus be attributed to the small difference in Mach number between the cases (due to inverse variation with cube of Mach number), the decrease in separation length and the non-confirmation to the proposed similarity law for the 6 MJ/kg case is attributed to the real gas effects. At Mach 6 the flow was observed to separate close to the leading edge, even when the (inviscid) shock impingement was at 95 mm from the leading edge. This prompted the proposal of an approximate inviscid model of the interaction for the Mach 6 case with separation at leading edge, and reattachment at the location of (inviscid) shock impingement; Accordingly, the closer the location of impingement, the more the angle that the separated shear layer makes with the plate and hence more the pressure inside the separation bubble. A small reduction in separation length was also observed with aluminium wall when compared with Hylem wall, emphasizing the importance of wall heat conductivity (especially when concerning separated flows) even within the short test durations of shock tunnels. The free interaction theory over adiabatic wall was found to predict the pressure at the location of separation, but under-predict the plateau pressure (at nominal Mach number 8). Numerical simulations (steady, planar) were also carried out using commercial CFD solver FLUENT to complement the experiments. Simulations using one equation turbulence model (Spalart-Allmaras model) were closer to the experimental results than the laminar simulations, suggesting that the flow field may be transitional or turbulent after separation. Significant reduction of the separation bubble length was demonstrated with the control of the interaction using boundary layer bleed within the short test time of the shock tunnel; with tangential blowing at the separation location20% reduction in separation length was observed, while with suction at separation location the reduction was 13.33 %.