Uncertainty Assessments of Hypersonic Shock Wave-Turbulent Boundary-Layer Interactions at Compression Corners

Simulations of a shock emanating from a compression corner and interacting with a fully developed turbulent boundary layer are evaluated herein. Mission-relevant conditions at Mach 7 and Mach 14 are defined for a precompression ramp of a scramjet-powered vehicle. Two compression angles are defined: the smallest to avoid separation losses and the largest to force higher temperature flow physics. The Baldwin–Lomax and the Cebeci– Smith algebraic models, the one-equation Spalart–Allmaras model with the Catrix–Aupoix compressibility modification, and two-equation models, including the Menter shear stress transport model and the Wilcox k-! 98 and k-! 06 turbulence models, are evaluated. Comparisons are made to existing experimental data and Van Driest theory to provide preliminary assessment of model-form uncertainty. A set of coarse-grained uncertainty metrics are defined to capture essential differences among turbulence models. There is no clearly superior model as judged by these metrics. A preliminary metric for the numerical component of uncertainty in shock– turbulent-boundary-layer interactions at compression corners sufficiently steep to cause separation is defined as 55%. This value is a median of differences with experimental data averaged for peak pressure and heating and for extent of separation captured in new grid-converged solutions presented here.