High-enthalpy effects on turbulent coherent structures over a curved compression corner

Direct numerical simulation (DNS) is performed to study high-enthalpy effects on a turbulent boundary layer (TBL) over a curved compression corner. The post-shock flow state behind a wedge flying at Mach 20 and at an altitude of 30 km are chosen for the present simulation. The post-shock temperature is 3400 K, which is high enough to trigger chemical non-equilibrium of the air. A low-enthalpy case is used for comparison. The influences on the instantaneous structures of the streamwise velocity, temperature, and oxygen atoms are examined. The results show that the flow structures are similar on an upstream flat plate in both cases, while on a ramp, streaks of streamwise velocity fluctuations in the high-enthalpy case experience stronger shrink compared with that in the low-enthalpy case. Furthermore, streaks of temperature break into smaller ones when dissociation reactions are introduced. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons are made with the low-enthalpy case; performed using two-point streamwise wall-normal correlation, space–time correlation, and by comparing the propagation velocities of the fluctuations. The results of these analyses validate the observations about the instantaneous fluctuations and show that the differences in the propagation velocity are affected by convection effects and chemical reactions, and that the dissociation reactions accelerate the propagation of temperature fluctuations.