Effect of adverse pressure gradient on high speed boundary layer transition

The effect of adverse pressure gradients (APG) on boundary layer stability, breakdown, and heat-transfer overshoot is investigated. Flat plate isothermal boundary layers initially at Mach 6 with APG imposed through the freestream boundary condition are simulated using suction and blowing to produce boundary layer instabilities. The three different transition mechanisms compared are first mode oblique breakdown, second mode oblique breakdown, and second mode fundamental resonance. For all of the transition mechanisms, an adverse pressure gradient increases the linear growth rates and quickens the transition to turbulence. However, the nonlinear breakdown for all three transition mechanisms is qualitatively the same as for a zero pressure gradient boundary layer. First mode oblique breakdown leads to the earliest transition location and an overshoot in heat transfer in the transitional region. Both types of Mack second mode forcing lead to a transitional boundary layer but even with the increased growth rates and N factors produced by the adverse pressure gradient, the breakdown process is still more gradual than first mode oblique breakdown because the primary Mack second mode instabilities saturate and produce streaks that breakdown further downstream. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.