Transition phenomena and intermittency on a Mach 6 flat plate evaluated by three independent flow parameters

Abstract Heat transfer rates, wall pressure and density fluctuations of a flat-plate boundary layer within the laminar–turbulent transition zone were measured at Mach 6 freestream conditions. The combination of the three independent flow parameters enables an extensive insight into the transition phenomena, improves the interpretation of the data and identifies the limitations of the respective measurement techniques. Comparisons between the measurement data culminate in the quantitative description of the transition progress by means of the intermittency distributions, which were calculated from each flow parameter individually. The derived transition locations differ by up to 9.3% in streamwise direction in relation to the average transition Reynolds number.