Supersonic base flow experiments in the near wake of a cylindrical afterbody

A nonintrusive method requires near wake data to study the fluid dynamics involved in supersonic base flowfields. The method is a supersonic flow-aligned circular cylinder as the test model and yields pressure distributions, average velocities and Reynold's shear stresses for a given flowfield. The test results imply that, for a near wake flowfield, the mean static pressure pattern is nearly the same across the base.