Flow control of micro-ramps on supersonic forward-facing step flow

The effects of the micro-ramps on supersonic turbulent flow over a forward-facing step(FFS) was experimentally investigated in a supersonic low-noise wind tunnel at Mach number 3 using nano-tracer planar laser scattering(NPLS)and particle image velocimetry(PIV) techniques. High spatiotemporal resolution images and velocity fields of supersonic flow over the testing model were captured. The fine structures and their spatial evolutionary characteristics without and with the micro-ramps were revealed and compared. The large-scale structures generated by the micro-ramps can survive the downstream FFS flowfield. The micro-ramps control on the flow separation and the separation shock unsteadiness was investigated by PIV results. With the micro-ramps, the reduction in the range of the reversal flow zone in streamwise direction is 50% and the turbulence intensity is also reduced. Moreover, the reduction in the average separated region and in separation shock unsteadiness are 47% and 26%, respectively. The results indicate that the micro-ramps are effective in reducing the flow separation and the separation shock unsteadiness.