Experimental investigation of supersonic turbulent flow over cylinders with various heights

The unsteady flow structures and pressure fluctuations of the cylinder-induced shock wave/boundary layer interactions (SBLIs) were investigated at Mach 3.4 and 3.8. The cylinders were mounted on the test section floor with a turbulent boundary layer, and six cylinders with various heights have been tested. The nanoparticle-based planar laser scattering (NPLS) flow visualization tests were performed, and the different features of shock systems as well as the "breath" effects of the separation bubble, have been validated by NPLS images. Dynamic pressure transducers were used to characterize the pressure fluctuations, and a remarkable spectra change was noticed around the cylinder foot. With increasing height, the PSD curve of x/D = − 1 ahead of the cylinder shaped from one-peak pattern to two-peaks pattern, while the second frequency peak showed a typical frequency of f ≈32 kHz. It was inferred that the first peak was more influenced by the free end of the cylinder and the detached shock. The second peak pattern of f ≈32 kHz was presumed to be affected by the vortex breakdown near the cylinder foot through analysis of flow visualization. Low frequency around 0 ~ 3 kHz was found to have an obvious rise at x/D = − 2, close to the typical frequency of SBLIs. Graphical abstract