The effect of the corner boundary layer on shock-induced separation in a rectangular channel

Wind tunnel experiments are conducted to investigate the effect of the corner regions of a Mach 2.5 channel flow on the response of the floor boundary layer to an oblique shock. To study this, two different nozzle setups are used, which produce distinct corner boundary layers for the same core flow and floor boundary layer. The setup with a highermomentum corner flow exhibits milder corner separation. This, in turn, results in a central separation which is more two-dimensional and 18% shorter than for the setup with thicker corner boundary layers. The considerable difference in the flow structure between the two setups highlights the significant impact of the corner regions on shock-induced separation in supersonic channel flows, as well as the influence of nozzle geometry on this type of wind tunnel experiment