Among the various solutions used to control shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interaction (SBLI) in practical applications, several studies in recent years have demonstrated the effectiveness of micro vortex generators (MVGs) to successfully delay shock-induced separation with reduced device drag on transonic airfoils and supersonic inlets.
The characterisation of the highly unsteady flow field produced by MVGs has been performed, up to now, mainly by means of experiments or numerical simulations using methodologies with limited accuracy. The use of modern HPC systems, boosted by the powerful GPU technology, opens the possibility to finally satisfy the burdensome high-resolution requirements to simulate the problem with Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) at Reynolds numbers comparable with those of the experiments.
The present project aims at simulating, by means of DNS, the control effect of MVGs on a SBLI for different values of two crucial parameters, the relative height of the device and its distance from the impinging shock. Such high-fidelity simulations are of paramount importance to correctly represent the interaction between the MVGs wake, the shock waves, and the separation region, and can help fully understand the physics behind the control mechanism of MVGs, also to propose more effective devices.
Sapienza, University of Rome, Italy.