Mechanical Engineering ETDs

James K. Cole

Publication Date

5-30-1961

Abstract

When a shock wave impinges on a boundary layer the interaction involves the continuous, viscous behavior of a boundary layer with the almost discontinuous behavior of a shock wave. A boundary layer is the region of a moving fluid that is adjacent to a solid surface. The velocity of the fluid is zero at the surface. The viscosity of the fluid causes relatively large shearing stresses in boundary layers. A shock wave is a region of a fluid which has extremely large gradients of the particle velocity. Shock waves are often rep­resented by mathematical discontinuities. A shock wave is called oblique if the upstream particle velocity and the wave front are not perpendicular. The flow field resulting from an interaction is con­siderably different from superimposed fields of a shock wave and a boundary layer. The pressure increase across a shock wave incident upon a boundary layer is transmitted upstream of the point of incidence through the subsonic portion of the boundary layer. This causes the upstream boundary layer to thicken rapidly, thus produc­ing a system of weak shock and expansion waves. If this pressure increase is sufficiently large a region of separated flow may be produced. Reference 1, pages 580-583, and reference 2, pages 364-372, give a more complete description of the complex features of this phenomenon.

Degree Name

Mechanical Engineering

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Mechanical Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Victor J. Skoglund

Second Committee Member

Arthur Vincent Houghton III

Third Committee Member

James Vernon Lewis

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

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