Shock wave-turbulent boundary layer interactions in rectangular channels.

Interaction regions created by the impingement of full span, externally generated, shock waves on a nozzle wall boundary layer were investigated. Incident shock strength was varied to produce unseparated, incipient, and fully separated flow fields. Significant departures from two-dimensionality were observed over the entire range of shock strengths tested and were identified with sidewall and corner boundary layer effects. However, comparisons of present centerline results with published two-dimensional data, obtained under similar test conditions and geometrical constraints, showed excellent agreement (e.g., incipient separation pressure levels, wall pressure distributions, free-interaction, and scale of the interaction region). This raises some question concerning the degree of two-dimensionality achieved in these previous investigations.