Experimental study of the influence of supersonic boundary-layer suction on its stability to controlled disturbances

A pioneering experimental study of the influence of distributed suction of a supersonic boundary layer on a flat plate on its stability to controlled (artificial) disturbances at the freestream Mach number M∞ = 2 is performed. Experimental results are compared to numerical predictions, and good quantitative agreement is observed. The conclusions of the linear stability theory that suction of the type considered in the study stabilizes the flow in a supersonic boundary layer are experimentally validated; moreover, the stabilizing effect of suction is more pronounced than the destabilizing effect of surface porosity.