Numerical study on the effect of angle of attack on boundary layer transition and aerodynamic heating of the wing-body configuration

In order to investigate the influence of angle of attack on boundary layer transition and aerodynamic heating distribution, a novel wing-body configuration featuring a large swept wing was proposed, and the improved k-ω-γ transition model was used to calculate the boundary layer transition under different angles of attack at Ma=6. The research results indicated that variations in the angle of attack significantly affected boundary layer transition and aerodynamic heating of the wing-body configuration, and the boundary layer transition on the surface initiated from the wing-body junction and gradually expanded downstream along the connection, exhibiting a widening trend on both sides. Notably, as the angle of attack increased from −10° to 10°, the transition range on the upper surface of the fuselage and wing initially decreased before increase. On the lower surface, the transition range of the fuselage increased first and then decreased, while on the wing, it decreased first and then increased. As for aerodynamic heating, on the windward side of the wing-body configuration, the heat flux distribution was primarily influenced by the boundary layer transition due to the relatively weak flow structure. On the leeward side, where the flow structure was stronger, the heat flux distribution was affected by both flow structure and boundary layer transition. Additionally, streamwise hot streak structures were identified on the upper surface of the wing at 6° and 10° angles of attack. The comparison between the flow structure and heat flux distribution revealed that the formation of hot streaks was related to the evolution of streamwise vortices and corner stream-wise vortices. © 2025 Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA). All rights reserved.