Zones of Influence and Shock Motion in a Shock/Boundary-Layer Interaction

This paper aims at describing the main features of a shock reflection on a turbulent boundary layer. The data used for this analysis are the results of large-eddy simulations of the interaction carried out with three different shock intensities: from incipient to fully separated cases. Computational results are validated vs experiments obtained for the same interaction geometries. The main space-time properties of the leading shock motions are described together with their links with the other regions of the flow. In particular, information about the origin of the shock motion is derived from the correlations between shock motion and unsteady pressure fields. It is shown that the shock motion reveals the flow unsteadiness found in the interaction region.