Probe influence on total pressure measurements in the zone of supersonic laminar separated flow reattachment

The influence of the Pitot probe on total pressure measurements in the near-wall flow in the zone of reattachment of a supersonic separated flow past a compression corner is considered. If the total pressure is measured near the model wall, a local maximum is observed in the region downstream of the reattachment line. This maximum can be either a physical structural element of the separated flow (high-pressure layer in which the total pressure reaches 0.8–0.95 of the free-stream total pressure) or a possible measurement error. The present study reveals the existence of a measured total pressure peak in the boundary layer on a horizontal flat plate and flat wedges. This peak is not associated with the high-pressure flow, but is rather a result of probe interaction with the model wall. The amplitude of this peak is found to depend on the ratio of the probe size and the boundary layer thickness. It is shown that the degree of the probe influence leading to distortion of the measurement results is smaller approximately by an order of magnitude than the maximum value of the measured total pressure in the high-pressure layer in the reattachment zone.