Uncovering Flow Physics for High-Speed Cavity Flow Control

In this study, the flow physics and control of high speed flows over open cavities were examined through both numerical and experimental methodologies. The flow conditions involved both subsonic and supersonic free stream conditions and the analysis not only included extracting information about the flow but also the development on various data driven analysis techniques. In this context, the benefits of including frequency in the application of the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition was demonstrated using time resolved velocity measurements. The importance of frequency based decomposition was used as the motivation to develop a linear multiple-input/multiple-output model that determines the optimal transfer functions between the input cavity wall pressure and the output velocity field as part of spectral analysis modal methods (SAMMs). With the numerical simulations resolvent analysis was leveraged to determine optimal spanwise wavenumber and frequency of the unsteady actuation input for a fixed momentum coefficient.