Experimental Investigation of Terminal Shock/Boundary-Layer Interaction with and without Upstream Lateral Confinement

A generic external-compression inlet test model is designed and fabricated to investigate the flow characteristics of terminal shock/boundary-layer interaction for inlet applications with and without upstream lateral confinement. When the leading edge of the sidewall is positioned 150 mm upstream of the duct entrance, the bifurcation height of the [Formula: see text] shock, the centerline separation length, and the pressure rise ratio at [Formula: see text] are close to reported values in the literature, although the corner separation herein is minor as compared with previous experiments with thick sidewall boundary layers. However, when the leading edge of the sidewall is aligned with the duct entrance, an obvious increase in the bifurcation point height can be observed, and an increase in centerline separation can be inferred from schlieren photographs. The significantly intensified separation is verified directly by surface oil flow visualization. In addition, the focus previously present in the corner region is replaced by a reattachment node located near the junction region of the bottom plate and sidewall leading edge. The intensification of the separation is attributed to a local high-pressure region caused by the impingement of the postshock subsonic flow onto the sidewalls.