Shock wave reflection phenomena (Q933605)

The author gives in detail a historical background for the reflection phenomenon of shock waves [see for the review of the 1st ed. (1992; Zbl 1142.76300)]. He provides many curves to explain these phenomena. It is evident that there are 13 different possible wave configurations, which are associated with the reflection of a shock wave from an oblique surface, namely: RR, WMR (i.e., vNR, VR, and GR), StMR, InMR, TRR, SMR, PTMR, TMR, DMR\(^+\), DMR\(^-\), and TerDMR. In steady flows only RR and SMR (usually referred to only as MR) are possible. In pseudo-steady flows, where there is an interaction between two processes, the shock wave reflection from the reflecting wedge and the shock-induced flow deflection around the leading edge of the reflecting wedge, give rise, in addition to RR and SMR, to WMR (i.e. vNR, VR, and GR), PTMR, TMR, DMR\(^+\), DMR\(^-\), and TerDMR. In unsteady flows three additional wave configurations are possible: StMR, InMR, and TRR. The just mentioned 13 different wave configurations are shown in an evolution tree. Because of the fact that different types of flow give rise to different types of reflections, the presentation of the shock wave reflection phenomenon is divided into three parts: Reflection in steady flows in Chap. 2; reflection in pseudo-steady flows in Chap. 3, and reflection in unsteady flows in Chap. 4. The major reason for the occurrence of the reflection phenomenon arises from a very basic gas dynamic phenomenon. The length-scale concept of \textit{H. G. Hornung} et al. [J. Fluid Mech. 90, 541 ff (1979)] most likely leads to the adequate criterion for the \(\text{RR}\leftrightarrows \text{IR}\) transition, because it results in the correct transition lines in steady, pseudo-steady, and unsteady flows. The agreement between this transition criterion and careful experimental investigation was never satisfactory enough in the close vicinity of the transition lines. This fact has been motivating investigators to continue searching for the correct \(\text{RR}\leftrightarrows \text{IR}\) transition criterion. However, one must recall that the transition criteria are based on the two- and three-shock theories which were developed under the assumption that all the discontinuities are straight in a vicinity of their intersection points, and hence various flow states bounded by them are uniform. In addition to this assumption, which introduces inherent errors into the transition lines calculated based on the two- and three-shock theories, the author demonstrates that the inclusion of viscous effects and real gas effects does improve the agreement between the experimental results and predictions based on these two fundamental theories. Abbreviations: RR Regular reflevtion; IR Irregular reflection; WMR Weak Mach reflection; vNR von Neumann reflection; VR Vasilev reflection; GR Guderley reflection; StMR Stationary Mach reflection; InMR Inverse-Mach reflection; TRR Transitioned regular reflection; SMR Single-Mach reflection; PTMR Pseudo-transitional-Mach reflection; TMR Transitional-Mach reflection; DMR\(^+\) Positive double-Mach reflection; DMR\(^-\) Negative double-Mach reflection; TerDMR Terminal double-Mach reflection.