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Weak shock wave reflection from concave surfaces

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Abstract

The reflection of very weak shock waves from concave curved surfaces has not been well documented in the past, and recent studies have shown the possible existence of a variation in the accepted reflection configuration evolution as a shock wave encounters an increasing gradient on the reflecting surface. The current study set out to investigate this anomaly using high-resolution photography. Shock tube tests were done on various concave circular and parabolic geometries, all with zero initial ramp angle. Although the results have limitations due to the achievable image resolution, the results indicate that for very weak Mach numbers, M S  < 1.1, there may be a region in which the reflection configuration resembles that of a regular reflection, unlike for the stronger shock wave case. This region exists after the triple point of the Mach reflection meets the reflecting surface and prior to the formation of the additional shock structures that represent a transitioned regular reflection. The Mach and transitioned regular reflections at 1.03 < M s  < 1.05 also exhibit no signs of a visible shear layer, or a clear discontinuity at the triple point, and are thus also apparently different in the weak shock regime than what has been described for stronger shocks, similar to what has been shown for weak shocks reflecting off a plane wedge.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Grant from the South African National Research Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Flow Research Unit, School of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, PO WITS, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa

    Sebastien Gruber & Beric Skews

Authors
  1. Sebastien Gruber
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  2. Beric Skews
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Beric Skews.

Appendix

Appendix

See Figs. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24.

Fig. 19
figure 19

Combined shadowgrams of multiple shock waves of average \(\overline{M}_S = 1.085\) and 1.042 on a model of 130 mm radius

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Fig. 20
figure 20

Combined shadowgrams of multiple shock waves of average \(\overline{M}_S = 1.039\) on a 2x 2 parabolic model

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Fig. 21
figure 21

Combined shadowgrams of multiple shock waves of average \(\overline{M}_S = 1.079\) and 1.037 on a 4x 2 parabolic model

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Fig. 22
figure 22

Combined shadowgrams of multiple shock waves of average \(\overline{M}_S = 1.078\) and 1.038 on a 6x 2 parabolic model

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Fig. 23
figure 23

Combined shadowgrams of multiple shock waves of average \(\overline{M}_S = 1.066\) on a 2x 2 parabolic model

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Fig. 24
figure 24

Combined shadowgrams of multiple shock waves of average \(\overline{M}_S = 1.082\) on a 2x 2 parabolic model

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Gruber, S., Skews, B. Weak shock wave reflection from concave surfaces. Exp Fluids 54, 1571 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-013-1571-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-013-1571-x

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