Boundary layer transition on blunt cones at hypersonic speeds

What is it about?

Because modal amplification is too weak to initiate the measured frustum larminar-turbulent transition in hypersonic cones at a zero angle of attack with moderate-to-large bluntness values, nonmodal growth is investigated as the potential basis for a physics-based model. Results show that both planar and oblique traveling disturbances that peak within the entropy layer experience appreciable energy amplification for successively higher disturbance frequencies as the nose bluntness is increased. These findings are qualitatively consistent with experimental observations.

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