On subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic inflectional-wave/vortex interaction (Q1369388)

An unstable inflection point developing in an oncoming two-dimensional boundary layer can give rise to nonlinear three-dimensional inflectional-wave/vortex interaction. In the current study on the compressible range the flow is examined theoretically just downstream of the linear neutral position, in order to understand how the interaction may be initiated. The research addresses both moderately and strongly compressible regimes. In both regimes, the result is a nonlinear integrodifferential equation for the wave pressure which implies four different types of downstream behaviour for the interaction -- a far-downstream saturation, a finite-distance singularity, exponentially decaying waves (leaving pure vortex motion) or periodicity. In a principal finding of the study, the coefficients of the equation are worked out explicitly for hypersonic flow, and in particular for the case of unit Prandtl number and a Chapman fluid.