Transition reversal over a blunt plate at Mach 5. Part 2. The role of free-stream-disturbance form

Transition onset of high-speed boundary layers can move first downstream and then upstream with increasing nose-tip bluntness, which is called transition reversal. For the first time, our recent research reproduced the experimentally observed transition reversal by direct numerical simulation (DNS, Guo et al. , J. Fluid Mech. vol. 1005, 2025, A5). As a continuation study, this work explores the effect of the form of free-stream disturbances, as the transition in the large-bluntness regime still remains poorly understood. The free-stream Mach number is 5 and the nose-tip radius 3 mm of the blunt plate exceeds the experimental reversal value. Three-dimensional broadband perturbation is carefully constructed through superimposition of planar fundamental waves in the free stream, which initiates the transition in DNS. For each Fourier component, the same perturbation strength is applied for slow/fast acoustic, vortical and entropic waves. All the cases present a ‘streak-turbulent spot’ two-stage transition scenario due to non-modal instabilities. The transition onset locations induced by entropic and slow/fast acoustic waves are close and significantly ahead of that by vortical waves. More evident impact of the disturbance form is manifested in the length of the transitional region, which is the shortest for entropic waves and the longest for vortical waves. Regarding the effect of the angle of incidence that mimics the tunnel environment, it alters the post-shock acoustic-wave structure and reduces the length of the transitional region. In the streaky stage, the form of free-stream disturbances changes the pronounced spanwise wavelengths on the blunt nose and the plate, where the two regions also differ from each other. In the turbulent-spot region, the shortest transitional region induced by the entropic wave is attributed to its largest mean spanwise spreading rate of the turbulent spot. From the perspective of energy budget, shear-induced dissipation dominates the heat transfer escalation in the transitional region. Overall, with significant leading-edge bluntness, the flight environment may tend to result in delayed transition onset compared with the tunnel counterpart.