Reconsideration of oblique shock wave reflections in steady flows. Part 1. Experimental investigation

Abstract

The reflection of shock waves over straight reflecting surfaces in steady flows was investigated experimentally using the supersonic wind tunnel of Laboratoire d'Aerothermique du CNRS, Meudon, France. The results for a flow Mach number M 0 = 4.96 contradict the state of the art regarding the regular [harr ] Mach reflection transition in steady flows. Not only was a hysteresis found to exist in this transition, but, unlike previous reports, regular reflection configurations were found to be stable in the dual-solution domain in which theoretically both regular and Mach reflection are possible.