NASA-TP-3032

Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to determine the effectiveness of a passive-venting system to modify the flow field characteristics of a rectangular-box cavity at supersonic speeds. The passive-venting system consists of a porous floor with a vent chamber beneath the floor. For certain cavity length-to-height ratios, this configuration allowed high-pressure air at the rear of the cavity to vent to the forward part of the cavity, thereby modifying the cavity flow field. The wind-tunnel model consisted of a flat plate that housed a cavity mounted on a balance such that only the cavity drag was measured. The cavity height remained constant, and the length varied with rectangular-block inserts. Both solid-and porous-floor cavities were tested for comparison at Mach numbers of 1.60, 1.90, 2.16, and 2.86. These results showed that the passive-venting system did modify the cavity flow field. In order to determine the type flow field which existed for the porous-floor configuration, pressures were measured inside the cavity at the same conditions and for the same configurations as those used in the drag tests. Pressure data were also obtained with stores mounted in the cavity. These results, along with Schlieren photographs and the tabulated data, are presented to document the porous-floor cavity flow field.