Turbulent spots in hypervelocity flow

The turbulent spot propagation process in boundary layer flows of air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and air/carbon dioxide mixtures in thermochemical nonequilibrium at high enthalpy is investigated. Experiments are performed in a hypervelocity reflected shock tunnel with a 5-degree half-angle axisymmetric cone instrumented with flush-mounted fast-response coaxial thermocouples. Time-resolved and spatially demarcated heat transfer traces are used to track the propagation of turbulent bursts within the mean flow, and convection rates at approximately 91, 74, and 63% of the boundary layer edge velocity, respectively, are observed for the leading edge, peak, and trailing edge of the spots. A simple model constructed with these spot propagation parameters is used to infer spot generation rates from observed transition onset to completion distance. Spot generation rates in air and nitrogen are estimated to be approximately twice the spot generation rates in air/carbon dioxide mixtures.