Investigation of conical shock wave/boundary layer interaction in axisymmetric internal flow

A RANS (Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulation) study is performed on an internal duct at a free-stream Mach number 4.0, to investigate the internal conical shock wave/boundary layer interaction (CSBLI) developing from an axisymmetric wall surface. An effort is devoted on the analysis of the flow features of the internal CSBLI phenomena through a simple physical model. The work aims to extend the investigation of Zuo et al. [1] on external CSBLI. The numerical strategy is first described and the capability of turbulence models to capture SBLI physics is then assessed by comparison with experiments. In the interacted region a small recirculation bubble is identified, and the foot of the conical shock forms a λ system. Unlike the external CSBLI case, a horseshoe pattern of separation whose strength and size are reduced away from the symmetry plane is observed. The topology of flow separation is similar to the one of two-dimensional closed separation. The pressure in the pipe increases rapidly by the effect of multi-reflected conical shock waves. The wall-surface pressure in the separation bubble continues to increase due to three-dimensional area compression effect.