Flight and wind-tunnel correlation of boundary-layer transition on the AEDC transition cone

Transition and fluctuating surface pressure data were acquired on a 10 deg included angle cone, using the same instrumentation and technique over a wide range of Mach and Reynolds numbers in 23 wind tunnels and in flight. Transition was detected with a traversing pitot-pressure probe in contact with the surface. The surface pressure fluctuations were measured with microphones set flush in the cone surface. Good correlation of end of transition Reynolds number RE(T) was obtained between data from the lower disturbance wind tunnels and flight up to a boundary layer edge Mach number, M(e) = 1.2. Above M(e) = 1.2, however, this correlation deteriorates, with the flight Re(T) being 25 to 30% higher than the wind tunnel Re(T) at M(e) = 1.6. The end of transition Reynolds number correlated within + or - 20% with the surface pressure fluctuations, according to the equation used. Broad peaks in the power spectral density distributions indicated that Tollmien-Schlichting waves were the probable cause of transition in flight and in some of the wind tunnels.