2014 Volume 62 Issue 3 Pages 99-106
Drag reduction performance over a blunt-body by a combination of a conical spike and repetitive energy depositions is investigated. Experiments are conducted in a Mach 2 supersonic flow in an in-draft wind tunnel, varying the length and the apex angle of the spike on a flat head body and the repetitive frequency of laser pulse energy depositions from 0 to 60kHz. Computational fluid dynamics calculations are done to diagnose the flow fields. Comparison is made between the experiment and calculation with respect to visualized flow fields and to the drag. When the length of the spike is shorter than the shock stand-off distance over the body without the spike, the effect of the spike is significant in low repetitive frequencies of up to 40kHz. In even higher repetitive frequencies, the impact of the spike becomes weak; the drag reduction is primarily attributed to energy deposition.