Shock unsteadiness creation and propagation: experimental analysis.

The possibility of creating unsteady distortions of the tip shock by waves emitted from an aircraft is assessed experimentally. The model chosen is a cylindrical fore body equipped with a spike. This configuration is known for generating an important level of unsteadiness around the spike in supersonic regime. The wind tunnel Mach number is equal to 2. The experiments show that waves emitted from this source propagate along the tip shock and interact with it. It is then assessed that this interaction produces a periodic distortion of the shock that propagates to the external flow. Unsteady pressure sensors, high speed schlieren films, hot wire probing and laser Doppler velocimetry are used as complementary experimental means. The final result is a coherent representation of the complex mechanism of wave propagation that has been evidenced. The principle of creating unsteady shock deformation by onboard equipments could be examined as a possibly promising method of sonic boom control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]