Abstract: | The mechanisms of development of slow time-dependent disturbances in the wall region of a hypersonic boundary layer are established and a diagram of the disturbed flow patterns is plotted; the corresponding nonlinear boundary value problem is formulated for each of these regimes. It is shown that the main factors that form the disturbed flow are the gas enthalpy near the body surface, the local viscous-inviscid interaction level, and the type, either subsonic or supersonic, of the boundary layer as a whole. Numerical and analytical solutions are obtained in the linear approximation. It is established that enhancement of the local viscous-inviscid interaction or an increased role for the main supersonic region of the boundary layer makes the disturbed flow by and large “supersonic”: the upstream propagation of the disturbances becomes weaker, while their downstream growth is amplified. Contrariwise, local viscous-inviscid interaction attenuation or an increased role for the main subsonic region of the boundary layer has the opposite effect. Surface cooling favors an increased effect of the main region of the boundary layer while heating favors an increased wall region effect. It is also found that in the regimes considered disturbances travel from the turbulent flow region downstream of the disturbed region under consideration counter to the oncoming flow, which may be of considerable significance in constructing the nonlinear stability theory. |