An experimental program was conducted to investigate effects of roughness, and roughness superimposed on single and/or multiple, shallow, periodic waveforms, on turbulent boundary-layer skin friction and velocity profile, in compressible, adiabatic flow. Test conditions were Mach number = 2.9 and Reynolds number/ft = 2 million to 8 million. The planar models included smooth, sand-grain, machined and molded surface finishes. Direct measurements of surface shear and Pitot/recovery temperature profiles were obtained. (Modified author abstract).

A two-component force balance was constructed which measured simultaneously the skin-friction force (drag force on a missile) and the orthogonal side force (roll-torque producing force). The test samples reported herein were designed to demonstrate the measurement technique. They were fabricated from aluminum. A successful test was performed in the NAVSURFWPNCEN Boundary Layer Channel using these aluminum test samples.

In 1975 the U.S. Air Force and the Federal Republic of Germany signed a Data Exchange Agreement numbered AF-75-G-7440 entitled 'Viscous and Interacting Flow Fields.' The purpose was to exchange data in the area of boundary layer research. It includes both experimental and theoretical boundary layer research at speeds from subsonic to hypersonic Mach numbers in the presence of laminar, transitional, and turbulent boundary layers. The main effort in recent years has been on turbulent boundary layers, both attached and separated in the presence of such parameters as pressure gradients, wall temperature, surface roughness, etc. In the United States the research was conducted in various Department of Defense, NASA, aircraft corporations, and various university laboratories. In the Federal Republic of Germany it was carried out within the various DFVLR, industrial, and university research centers.