Passive control of shock-wave/turbulent boundary-layer interaction via ridge-type roughness

Abstract

We investigate the control effects of spanwise heterogeneous roughness on shockwave/turbulent boundary-layer interactions (STBLIs) using wall-resolved large-eddy simulations. The roughness extends over the entire computational domain and consists of streamwise-aligned sinusoidal ridges alternating with flat valleys. The baseline case is a Mach 2.0 impinging STBLI flow with a 40^◦ impinging-shock angle, for which we consider incoming turbulent boundary layers at two friction Reynolds numbers, Re_τ ≈ 350 and 1200. Multiple roughness configurations are analysed, which maintain consistent geometric characteristics under either inner or outer scaling. The results show that the rough-wall configurations introduce a moderate increase in mean drag, while substantially modifying the dynamics of the interaction. The wall-pressure fluctuations near the separation-shock foot consist of two components: low-frequency fluctuations associated with large-scale shock excursions and high-frequency fluctuations linked to amplified turbulence. We find that both spectral components can be significantly attenuated by the investigated wall roughness. At low Reynolds number, the attenuation of low- and high-frequency components contributes comparably to the overall reduction. At high Reynolds number, an overall stronger reduction of the pressure fluctuation peak is observed and is mainly attributed to the effective suppression of the low-frequency component. Cross-correlation analyses support downstream mechanisms for the low-frequency dynamics in the current strong interaction regime, where large-scale shock excursions are mainly driven by the breathing of the reverse-flow bubble. Large-scale Görtler-like vortices are identified around the reattachment location in all cases. They appear largely unaffected by roughness geometry and contribute to the flow dynamics over a wide range of frequencies.