Hypersonic flow stability experiments

The present paper overviews recent stability studies of hypersonic laminar shear flows. In particular, it presents data on stability of hypersonic boundary layers on thermally isolated cones with sharp and blunted noses with the 7°-half-angle cone in a flow with Mach number M^ = 5.92. Also outlined are some results of recent studies of stability of shear flows at high hypersonic velocities (Mw = 21) and moderate Reynolds numbers. In particular, data obtained by the electron-beam method are described illustrating evolution of natural and artificial disturbances in a shock layer on a flat plate and also on longitudinal structures arising in this layer in a hypersonic flow. Data are reported on stability of natural disturbances in a shock-layer flow on a 7°-cone and on stability of both natural perturbations and artificial finite-amplitude disturbances of a hypersonic laminar wake past the cone.