The influence of the downstream pressure on the shock wave reflection phenomenon in steady flows

The effect of the downstream pressure (defined here as the wake pressure behind the tail of the reflecting wedge) on shock wave reflection in steady flows is investigated both numerically and analytically. The dependence of the shock wave configurations on the downstream pressure is studied. In addition to the incidenf-shock-wave-angle-induocd hysteresis, which was discovered a few years ago, a new downstreampressure-induced hysteresis has been found to exist. The numerical study reveals that when the downstream pressure is sufficiently high, an in verse-Mach reflection wave configuration, which has so far been observed only in unsteady flows, can be also established in steady flows. Very good agreement between the analytical predictions and the numerical results is found.