Unsteady Phenomena in Shock Wave/Boundary Layer Interaction

A brief review is given of the unsteadiness of shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interaction. The focus is on interactions generated by swept and unswept compression ramps, by flares, steps and incident shock waves, by cylinders and blunt fins, and by glancing shock waves. The effects of Mach number, Reynolds number, and separated flow scale are discussed as are the physical causes of the unsteadiness. The implications that the unsteadiness has for interpreting time-average surface and flowfield data, and for comparisons of such experimental data with computation, is also briefly discussed. Finally, some suggestions for future work are given. It is clear that there are large gaps in the data base and that many aspects of such phenomena are poorly understood. Much work remains to be done.