Experimental study of nonlinear processes in a swept-wing boundary layer at the mach number M=2

Results of experiments aimed at studying the linear and nonlinear stages of the development of natural disturbances in the boundary layer on a swept wing at supersonic velocities are presented. The experiments are performed on a swept wing model with a lens-shaped airfoil, leading-edge sweep angle of 45°, and relative thickness of 3%. The disturbances in the flow are recorded by a constant-temperature hot-wire anemometer. For determining the nonlinear interaction of disturbances, the kurtosis and skewness are estimated for experimentally obtained distributions of the oscillating signal over the streamwise coordinate or along the normal to the surface. The disturbances are found to increase in the frequency range from 8 to 35 kHz in the region of their linear development, whereas enhancement of high-frequency disturbances is observed in the region of their nonlinear evolution. It is demonstrated that the growth of disturbances in the high-frequency spectral range (f > 35 kHz) is caused by the secondary instability.