Pressure Gradient and Nonadiabatic Surface Effects on Boundary Layer Transition

The influence of the streamwise pressure gradient and a nonadiabatic surface on boundary layer transition was experimentally investigated at the Cryogenic Ludwieg-Tube Göttingen, Germany. Boundary layer transition was detected nonintrusively by means of the temperature-sensitive paint technique. The wind-tunnel model was designed to achieve a quasi-uniform streamwise pressure gradient over a large portion of the model chord length. This allowed the effects on boundary layer transition of the streamwise pressure gradient and wall temperature ratio to be decoupled. The model was tested at high Reynolds numbers and at a high subsonic Mach number. Favorable, almost-zero, and adverse streamwise pressure gradients were considered; and various temperature differences between the flow and the model surface were implemented. Stronger flow acceleration and lower wall temperature ratios led to an increase of the transition Reynolds number. Larger increases in the transition Reynolds number were obtained at more pronounced flow acceleration for the same reduction in the wall temperature ratio. The measured pressure distributions served as input for boundary layer stability computations, performed according to compressible, linear, local stability theory under the (quasi-) parallel-flow assumption. Amplification factors of the Tollmien–Schlichting waves were shown to be reduced by stronger favorable pressure gradients and lower wall temperature ratios, which was in agreement with the observed variation in the transition Reynolds number.