Pressure-sensitive paint on a truncated cone in hypersonic flow at incidences

The flow over a truncated cone is a classical and fundamental problem for aerodynamic research due to its three-dimensional and complicated characteristics. The flow is made more complex when examining high angles of incidence. Recently these types of flows have drawn more attention for the purposes of drag reduction in supersonic/hypersonic flows. In the present study the flow over a truncated cone at various incidences was experimentally investigated in a Mach 5 flow with a unit Reynolds number of 13.5 × 106 m−1. The cone semi-apex angle is 15° and the truncation ratio (truncated length/cone length) is 0.5. The incidence of the model varied from −12° to 12° with 3° intervals relative to the freestream direction. The external flow around the truncated cone was visualised by colour Schlieren photography, while the surface flow pattern was revealed using the oil flow method. The surface pressure distribution was measured using the anodized aluminium pressure-sensitive paint (AA-PSP) technique. Both top and sideviews of the pressure distribution on the model surface were acquired at various incidences. AA-PSP showed high pressure sensitivity and captured the complicated flow structures which correlated well with the colour Schlieren and oil flow visualisation results.

► Global pressure map over the truncated cone is obtained at various incidence angles in Mach 5 flow.
► Successful application of AA-PSP in hypersonic flow expands operation area of this technique.
► AA-PSP reveals complex three-dimensional pattern which is difficult for transducer to obtain.
► Quantitative data provides strong correlation with colour Schlieren and oil flow results.
► High spatial resolution pressure mappings identify small scale vortices and flow separation.