VITA measurements of transition in transitional hypersonic boundary layer flows

The variable interval time-averaging (VITA) technique is applied to the hot-wire measurements made in three axisymmetric, transitional hypersonic boundary layers. The average duration of conditionally sampled events is used to detect the transition region. It is found that the stability Reynolds number at the peak in the average duration of conditionally sampled events correlates well with the stability Reynolds number that is intermediate to the onset of transition and peak heating. This VITA-identified location of transition moves upstream under the effects of both an adverse pressure gradient and wall cooling; this agrees with previous experimental and computational studies. The VITA technique, therefore, offers an alternative method to obtain details of the location of transition in hypersonic stability experiments, in which hot-wire measurements of the transitioning boundary layers are made.