SRS
Scale-Resolving Simulation at Scale
Resolving Shock–Boundary-Layer Interaction with the Viscous Shock Tube
- Aerospace
- Energy
- Manufacturing
What This Simulation Does
The 2d-viscous-shock-tube example runs a shock tube at moderate Reynolds number where the propagating shock interacts with the wall boundary layer, producing a complex lambda-shock structure and vortex roll-up near the wall. It couples strong shock capturing with viscous boundary-layer resolution in a single run.
- Compressible Navier–Stokes with viscous stress and heat conduction plus entropy-filter shock capturing
- Shock/boundary-layer interaction — the shock's interaction with the wall layer creates the lambda-foot and separation physics that dominate real high-speed flows
- Wall heat transfer — no-slip adiabatic and slip adiabatic walls exercise the near-wall thermal physics
Key Parameters
- Grid: quadrilateral elements, polynomial order 4; Gauss–Legendre points
- Fluid: ideal gas γ = 1.4, μ = 2 × 10-4, Pr = 0.73
- States: left (ρ, p) = (120, 85.714), right (1.2, 0.857)
- Scheme: HLLC flux, LDG viscous (β = 0.5, τ = 0.1), entropy filter (2 iters), RK4; Δt = 5 × 10-5, tend = 1
The core transferable physics: A moving shock meets a viscous wall layer, separates it, and rolls it into vortices. This shock/boundary-layer interaction (SBLI) is the single most consequential phenomenon in high-speed inlets, transonic wings, and gun/launch tubes — and it is precisely where inviscid solvers fail and low-order viscous solvers smear the answer.
What Makes This Capability Unique
Shocks + viscosity together
Captures strong shocks and resolves the boundary layer in the same solver — the exact combination needed for SBLI, without operator-splitting compromises.
Order-4 near-wall accuracy
High polynomial order resolves the lambda-foot and separation bubble on far fewer cells than a low-order solver would require.
Wall heat-flux fidelity
LDG viscous treatment delivers the near-wall gradients that set heat flux and skin friction — the loads that size structures and cooling.
Cloud GPU, no HPC
Launch a resolved SBLI benchmark from the browser on enterprise GPUs — no local build, mesh tooling, or cluster procurement.
Domain Applications
Select a domain to see how this simulation applies, with industry-specific scenarios and ROI.
The Problem
Transonic wings, supersonic inlets, and control surfaces are governed by shock/boundary-layer interaction. SBLI causes buffet, separation, inlet unstart, and localized heating — the phenomena that most directly limit the flight envelope and drive certification risk.
- Transonic buffet onset is set by shock-induced separation; predicting it needs a resolved viscous shock interaction, not an inviscid estimate.
- Inlet unstart from SBLI can be catastrophic for a supersonic engine; simulation identifies the margin.
Buffet/SBLI-driven redesign late in a program routinely costs $10–50M.
Applications
| Application | How this simulation maps |
|---|---|
| Transonic buffet prediction | Lambda-shock and separation physics map to shock-induced buffet onset on a wing |
| Supersonic inlet SBLI | Shock–boundary-layer interaction predicts separation and unstart margin |
| Control-surface hinge loads | Shock impingement on a deflected surface sets peak pressure and heating |
| Nozzle flow separation | Over-expanded nozzle separation and side loads driven by SBLI |
Quantifiable Business Value
Scenario: An airframer uses resolved SBLI simulation to find buffet onset early, avoiding a late wing redesign discovered only in flight test.
Schedule protection often dwarfs the direct redesign savings on a competitive program.
Recommended Next Steps
Verify the SBLI structure
Run the case and confirm the lambda-foot, separation bubble, and near-wall vortex roll-up are resolved at your mesh and order.
Sweep Reynolds and shock strength
Vary viscosity and pressure ratio to bracket the separation and heat-load regimes relevant to your hardware.
Move to your geometry
Apply the verified viscous + shock-capturing settings to your inlet, blade row, or nozzle.
Ready to Run This Simulation?
Run this example on SRS's cloud platform. No installation, no infrastructure management — just results.
For questions or to schedule a technical briefing, contact the SRS simulation team.
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