Hypersonic fluid–structure interaction on a cantilevered plate with shock impingement

This work is focused on a hypersonic aeroelastic experiment involving a shock impinging on compliant cantilevered plate at Mach 5.8. The shock induces a pressure differential across the plate thickness that drives its oscillatory behavior. Transition takes place within the separated region, resulting in a fully turbulent boundary layer at the reattachment point, in agreement with previous relevant work. A schlieren system and pressure-sensitive paint are used to measure structural displacement and pressure distribution, respectively. For small deflections, transition results in peak pressure values 15% greater than twoway predictions based on unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier– Stokes (RANS) equations. Peak pressure evolution is predicted with the piston theory with good accuracy. The reference enthalpy method is corrected on the basis of the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes solution, and it is used to estimate the heat-flux distribution downstream of the reattachment point. Görtler-like vortices are observed and measured in the reattachment region, and their magnitude is affected by the plate deflection. Large trailing-edge displacements result in a smaller streamline curvature at the reattachment point and, consequently, in smaller vortices. Finally, the data are used to predict the performance of two-dimensional control surfaces using the conceptual equivalence of oblique shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction and compression corners. This work aims to establish the accuracy of RANS simulations and low-fidelity models in the reconstruction of the peak heating and peak pressure evolution to bridge ground-testing and real-flight conditions in terms of flap-efficiency predictions and to design an experiment that can be simulated using computationally inexpensive two-dimensional solvers.