COMPUTATIONAL FLUID-DYNAMICS VALIDATION USING MULTIPLE INTERFEROMETRIC VIEWS OF A HYPERSONIC FLOWFIELD

The validity of the computed three-dimensional perfect-gas inviscid de nsity field of the shock layer about a blunt body in a hypersonic argo n freestream has been investigated. Mach-Zehnder interferometry was us ed to generate interferograms of such a flowfield produced in the T3 f ree-piston shock tunnel. Two-dimensional phase maps (representing line -of-sight integrated density) were produced from the interferograms us ing a two-dimensional Fourier transform fringe analysis method. Theore tical maps, computed from the computational fluid dynamics solution, c ompare extremely well with experimental maps for each of seven differe nt viewing angles used to generate interferograms. The multiple angles remove the ambiguity associated with comparing theoretical and experi mental integrated quantities. Thus, confidence can be placed in the va lidity of the three-dimensional density computations.