TY - JOUR
T1 - The regular reflection→Mach reflection transition in unsteady flow over convex surfaces
AU - Geva, M.
AU - Ram, O.
AU - Sadot, O.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (grant no. 1045/15). We thank Professor G. Ben-Dor for his useful discussions on our paper. O.R. is supported by the Adams Fellowship program of the Israeli Academy of Science and Humanities.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Cambridge University Press.
PY - 2018/2/25
Y1 - 2018/2/25
N2 - The non-stationary transition from regular reflection (RR) to Mach reflection (MR) over convex segments has been the focus of many recent studies. Until recently, the problem was thought to be very complicated because it was believed that many parameters such as the radius of curvature, initial angle and geometrical shape of the reflecting surface influenced this process. In this study, experiments and inviscid numerical computations were performed in air ( \unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}=1.4) at an incident shock-wave Mach number of 1.3. The incident shock waves were reflected over cylindrical and elliptical convex surfaces. The computations were validated by high-resolution experiments, which enabled the detection of features in the flow having characteristic lengths as small as 0.06Â mm. Therefore, the RR →MR transition and Mach stem growth were successfully validated in the early stages of the Mach stem formation and closer to the surface than ever before. The evolution of the RR, the transition to MR and the Mach stem growth were found to depend only on the radius of the reflecting surface. The reflected shock wave adjusts itself to the changing angles of the reflecting surface. This feature, which was demonstrated at Mach numbers 1.3 and 1.5, distinguishes the unsteady case from the self-similar pseudo-steady case and requires the formulation of the conservation equations. A modification of the standard two-shock theory (2ST) is presented to predict the flow properties behind a shock wave that propagates over convex surfaces. Until recently, the determination of the time-dependent flow properties was possible solely by numerical computations. Moreover, this derivation explains the controversial issue on the delay in the transition from the RR to the MR that was observed by many researchers. It turns out that the entire RR evolution and the particular moment of transition to MR, are based on the essential 'no-penetration' condition of the flow. Therefore, we proposed a simple geometrical criterion for the RR →MR transition.
AB - The non-stationary transition from regular reflection (RR) to Mach reflection (MR) over convex segments has been the focus of many recent studies. Until recently, the problem was thought to be very complicated because it was believed that many parameters such as the radius of curvature, initial angle and geometrical shape of the reflecting surface influenced this process. In this study, experiments and inviscid numerical computations were performed in air ( \unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}=1.4) at an incident shock-wave Mach number of 1.3. The incident shock waves were reflected over cylindrical and elliptical convex surfaces. The computations were validated by high-resolution experiments, which enabled the detection of features in the flow having characteristic lengths as small as 0.06Â mm. Therefore, the RR →MR transition and Mach stem growth were successfully validated in the early stages of the Mach stem formation and closer to the surface than ever before. The evolution of the RR, the transition to MR and the Mach stem growth were found to depend only on the radius of the reflecting surface. The reflected shock wave adjusts itself to the changing angles of the reflecting surface. This feature, which was demonstrated at Mach numbers 1.3 and 1.5, distinguishes the unsteady case from the self-similar pseudo-steady case and requires the formulation of the conservation equations. A modification of the standard two-shock theory (2ST) is presented to predict the flow properties behind a shock wave that propagates over convex surfaces. Until recently, the determination of the time-dependent flow properties was possible solely by numerical computations. Moreover, this derivation explains the controversial issue on the delay in the transition from the RR to the MR that was observed by many researchers. It turns out that the entire RR evolution and the particular moment of transition to MR, are based on the essential 'no-penetration' condition of the flow. Therefore, we proposed a simple geometrical criterion for the RR →MR transition.
KW - compressible flows
KW - shock waves
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85039745506&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/jfm.2017.835
DO - 10.1017/jfm.2017.835
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85039745506
SN - 0022-1120
VL - 837
SP - 48
EP - 79
JO - Journal of Fluid Mechanics
JF - Journal of Fluid Mechanics
ER -