Reynolds number influence on leeside flowfields

Experimental results on the Reynolds number influence on the leeside flowfield of planar delta wings at supersonic speeds are presented. Wind tunnel experiments on two delta wing models with straight and sharp leading edges at freestream Mach number of 2.5 and 3.5 and angle of attack between 1 deg and 12.5 deg were carried out. The cross-sectional shape was triangular and the relative height was 0.25. The flow types investigated were to the left and right of the Stanbrook-Squire boundary. Under leading-edge separation conditions, the vortex position and intensity, and thus the suction pressure, vary with Re while the flow type remains nearly unchanged. In the region of separation with embedded shock, Re affects not only the shape of the separation bubble and pressure level near the leading edge but also the type of flow. At sufficiently high Re the flow type of separation with shock changes to one with shock-induced separation.