Buffeting is the structural response to excitation produced by the shock- induced
flow separation, and isultimtely related to the vortex formation and
breakdown. Buffeting may affect different parts of the airframe, but the buffeting on
the wing is the most important.
As the speed increases the wing is affected by shock stall, whose appearance sets
an upper limit to the speed. This limit is a function of the flight altitude. Its
envelope is called buffeting boundary.
Figure 5: Buffeting Boundary
There are several ways to detect the presence of buffet/flow separation. For example:
deviation of bending/rolling moment, local slope reduction, shock wave
position, accelerometer recordings, etc.)
As for detection, there are several ways to removing or reducing the effect of
buffeting, by either increasing the critical Mach number of minimizing the effects at
transonic regimes, or both. For example: use wings with sweep back; use supercritical
airfoils; decrease the wing loading.
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