Experimental and Computational Boundary-Layer Studies In a Supersonic Two-Dimensional Nozzle

Experiments and computations were carried out on the adiabatic laminar boundary layer developing along the surfaces of a two-dimensional supersonic nozzle, consisting of upper and lower contoured nozzle blocks and flat sidewalls. Two- and three-dimensional Navier-Stokes codes, as well as two-dimensional boundary-layer codes were employed. These codes were adapted to the characteristics of a specific wind tunnel nozzle, so that their numerical results could be directly compared with experimental data obtained in the same nozzle. Such comparisons were made for the boundary-layer growth on the nozzle contoured surfaces, and for the boundary-layer growth, surface streamlines and surface shear on the sidewalls. The three-dimensional Navier-Stokes code was found to be the only one to correctly predict the mean laminar boundary-layer flow on both the sidewalls and the contoured surfaces. Theory and experiment both indicated that the sidewall flow is highly three-dimensional, with non-uniform shear, corner vortices and a boundary layer strongly distorted by cross flows induced by lateral pressure gradients.