Experiments on shock wave reflection transition and hysteresis in low-noise wind tunnel

• DOI: 10.1063/1.1572874
• Publication Date: 2003-05-15T23:33:55Z
• Authors: M. S. Ivanov; A. N. Kudryavtsev; S. B. Nikiforov; D. V. Khotyanovsky; A. A. Pavlov
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences

Experiments on the transition between steady regular and Mach reflections of shock waves have been performed in a low-noise wind tunnel. Owing to a very low level of free-stream disturbances inherent in this facility, the hysteresis phenomenon has been observed in close agreement with theoretical predictions and results of the previous numerical simulations. When increasing the incident shock wave angle, regular reflection persists in most of the dual solution domain. Thus, the detachment criterion can be considered as a true one for the transition from regular to Mach reflection, and an earlier transition observed in many wind tunnel experiments is certainly caused by free-stream disturbances, which were present in those facilities.