Todd Davidson

Study of transition location effect (from natural transition to fully turbulent) on separation size, shock structure and unsteadiness was the focus of this WP. Boundary layer tripping (by wire or roughness) and flow control devices (VG) were used for boundary layer transition induction. Although this type of flow field had been studied widely in th...

In order to be able to judge the effectiveness of transition induction in WP-2, reference flow cases were planned in WP-1. There are two obvious reference cases—a fully laminar interaction and a fully turbulent interaction. Here it should be explained that the terms “laminar” and “turbulent” interaction refer to the boundary layer state at the begi...

Flat plate experiments investigating flow development downstream of normal shock wave–laminar boundary-layer interactions are reported. Laminarity is desirable for low drag, but problems are expected at shock interactions due to separation, leading to unsteadiness and large boundary-layer growth. A flat plate with elliptical leading edge profile is...

© 2015 by Todd Davidson and Holger Babinsky. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.This paper reports recent work undertaken to investigate the interaction between normal shocks and laminar/transitional boundary layers. Laminar ow is desirable for its low skin friction, but problems are expected with shock interac...

The effect of transition location on the interaction between normal shock waves and boundary layers is an area of study that has been enjoying a resurgence in interest recently, as operating regimes change and it becomes a phenomenon that may occur in flight. The problem is critical because a laminar boundary layer will typically separate at even a...