Abstract The structure of wall pressure fluctuations beneath a turbulent boundary layer interacting with a normal shock wave is investigated through direct numerical simulation (DNS). In the zeropressure-gradient (ZPG) region upstream of the interaction pressure statistics well compare with canonical boundary layers in terms of fluctuation intensities and frequency spectra. Across the interaction zone, the r.m.s. wall pressure fluctuations attain large values (in excess of ≈ 162 dB ...