Hypersonic Shock Wave Interactions on a V-Shaped Blunt Leading Edge

An investigation of hypersonic shock wave interactions on a V-shaped blunt leading edge (which is commonly designed in hypersonic inlets) is conducted, focusing on the effects of the geometry of the leading edge and the freestream Mach number. Experimental schlieren images were compared with the wave patterns obtained from numerical simulations, showing good agreement. The shock interaction in the crotch region creates a very complex flow-field and an uneven distribution of the surface heat flux. An extremely high heat flux caused by a shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction, a shear layer attachment, or an impingement of the supersonic jets occurs over a narrow region. The numerical results indicate that the local surface heat flux can be up to 24 times the stagnation-point value computed using the Fay–Riddell correlation. Moreover, increasing the leading edge bluntness may have a significant negative effect on the thermal protection of the crotch caused by the shock interaction. Designing a hypersonic V-shaped leading edge involves a compromise between making the leading edge sharp enough to avoid a complex shock interaction flow and blunt enough to reduce the stagnation-point heat flux.