A high-order cut-cell method for numerical simulation of hypersonic boundary-layer instability with surface roughness

Laminar-turbulent transition of hypersonic boundary layers can be affected significantly by the existence of surface roughness. Currently many important mechanisms of roughness-induced transition are not well understood. In recent years, direct numerical simulation (DNS) has been extensively applied for investigating instability and transition mechanisms of hypersonic boundary layers. Most of the past DNS studies, however, have been based on body-fitted grids for smooth surfaces without roughness. Due to complex geometry of embedded roughness, the use of body-fitted grids can be very difficult for flow with arbitrary surface roughness. In this paper, we present a new high-order cut-cell method to overcome the natural complexities in grid generation around arbitrary surface of roughness. The new method combines a non-uniform-grid finite-difference method for discrete grid points near the solid boundary and a shock-fitting method for the treatment of the bow shock. The non-uniform-grid finite-difference formulas are expressed in a general explicit form so that they can be applied to different multi-dimensional problems without any modification. The computational accuracy of new algorithms of up to O(h⁴) are tested on several one- and two-dimensional elliptic equations in irregular domains. In addition, the new method is applied to the simulation of the receptivity process of a Mach 5.92 flow over a flat plate under the combined effect of an isolated surface roughness element and surface blow and suction. A good agreement is found between the unsteady flow results and those obtained by a Linear Stability Theory (LST).