Fluctuating wall pressures measured beneath a supersonic turbulent boundary layer

Wind tunnel experiments up to Mach 3 have provided fluctuating wall-pressure spectra beneath a supersonic turbulent boundary layer to frequencies reaching 400 kHz by combining data from piezoresistive silicon pressure transducers effective at low- and mid-range frequencies and piezoelectric quartz sensors to detect high frequency events. Data were corrected for spatial attenuation at high frequencies and for wind-tunnel noise and vibration at low frequencies. The resulting power spectra revealed the omega(-1) dependence for fluctuations within the logarithmic region of the boundary layer but are essentially flat at low frequency and do not exhibit the theorized omega(2) dependence. When normalized by outer flow variables, a slight dependence upon the Reynolds number is detected, but Mach number is the dominant parameter. Normalization by inner flow variables is largely successful for the omega(-1) region but does not apply for lower frequencies. A comparison of the pressure fluctuation intensities with 50 years of historical data shows their reported magnitude chiefly is a function of the frequency response of the sensors. The present corrected data yield results in excess of the bulk of the historical data, but uncorrected data are consistent with lower magnitudes, suggesting that much of the historical compressible database may be biased low. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3609271]