In the present work, the supersonic flow past an axisymmetric cylinder and over a three-dimensional cavity are investigated using detached-eddy simulation to evaluate the predictive capabilities of this simulation technique. The numerical predictions are compared with experimental data of Herrin and Dutton (1994) for the base flow and of Zhuang (2007) for the cavity flow. In the case of base flow, the mean velocity field and pressure along the base are well reproduced. In the cavity flow case, the predictions follow the trends of the measurement concerning the mean velocity field. Pertaining to the sound pressure level along the cavity floor, slightly higher pressure levels are predicted and the reasons are discussed. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

In the present work, the influence of the on-coming boundary layer on the supersonic cavity flow dynamics is studied using the delayed detached-eddy simulation technique.For this purpose, three different inflow boundary conditions are taken into account, namely a laminar boundary layer, a turbulent boundary layer and finally a turbulent boundary layer with a larger momentum thickness than the previous one. The numerical predictions of these different cases are compared with available experimental data (Zhuang 2007 and Kaufman et al. 1983),which include unsteady pressure spectra, mean velocity and pressure fields, resolved Reynolds stresses, and overall sound pressure level along the cavity floor.