Experimental study of the K-regime of breakdown in straight and swept wing boundary layers

Journal article, 2001

In this Brief Communication, the nonlinear evolution of periodical disturbances generated by an external sound field in a swept wing boundary layer is presented. All experimental results are compared with corresponding data for a straight wing configuration. The Tollmien-Schlichting instability has been studied, and it was found that the disturbance flow field remained highly deterministic and periodic in both time and space until the latest stages of the transition. A frequency-wave number Fourier analysis shows that the disturbance spectra comprise only the fundamental wave and its higher harmonics. The K-type breakdown scenario was observed, and the nonsymmetry of flow patterns in the swept wing boundary layer was found to be due to the presence of the cross flow.