Ricerc@Sapienza

Future sustainable growth of the aviation and aerospace industry relies on continued improvements in efficiency giving reductions in fuel consumption and increases in payload. Research efforts therefore focus on aerodynamic performance and structural weight savings. This inherently requires more highly performing wings, control surfaces and nozzles, in which transonic flow and supersonic is common place, and the formation of shock waves the key aerodynamic challenge. In particular, the interaction of shock waves with boundary-layers is one of, if not the main performance-limiting or safety critical flow phenomena across all of these flow fields. Thus, solid understanding of the interaction of shock waves with boundary layers (SBLI) is essential for the development of future, more efficient, air vehicles and engines. Increased aerodynamic forces can lead to flow separation and reductions in engine and airframe efficiency. In such cases, flow control is needed to maintain system performance. However, novel designs are also likely to increase the extent of laminar flow and this implies that flow control devices need to operate in a laminar or transitional regime. This requires a better understanding of their function and their interaction with flow transition. In the present research project we aim at improving the understanding and predictive capabilities of SBLI through (1) improvement of fundamental understanding of SBLI physics including three-dimensionality and unsteadiness; and (2) development of novel high-fidelity numerical methods for the prediction of SBLI effects.