Theoretical and Experimental Study of Shock Wave Focusing in a Confined Reflector

Abstract

A theoretical and numerical procedure describing the propagation of shock waves of arbitrary form and strength previously developed by Apazidis and Lesser (1996) is tested in an experimental investigation. A thin cylindrical chamber filled with gas and having a specific form of the boundary is used to study the process of reflection and convergence of initially cylindrical shocks. The process is visualized at different locations in the chamber by means of a schlieren system connected to a time-delay control devices. The obtained experimental results such as the form of the converging shock fronts as well as the Mach number distribution along the shock front are compared to the calculations based on the above theoretical model. The calculated forms of the converging shocks show good agreement with the experimental results.