The Interaction of a Reflected Shock Wave with the Contact Region in a Shock Tube

Abstract

It is well known that when a shock-boundary layer interaction is comparatively strong, the shock in a duct extends over a great distance, which is called a pseudo-shock wave. At present, however, the formation mechanism of the pseudo-shock wave is not well understood. In this paper, in order to clarify its formation mechanism, the interaction phenomena of the reflected shock wave with the contact region in a shock tube were optically observed by the schlieren method. As the results, the formation process of the pseudo-shock became clear and the factors influencing the formation of the pseudo-shock were discussed. Moreover, the methods of calculation of the velocity and the shape of the reflected shock after the interaction with the contact region were presented. The calculated values agree well with the experimental results.