Transition from regular to Mach reflection of shock waves Part 1. The effect of viscosity in the pseudosteady case

Abstract

It is demonstrated experimentally that the influence of viscosity on the transition condition in pseudosteady flow is very significant. A mechanism is proposed for this effect, which explains the features of the observed behaviour. In particular, an experimental method of finding the inviscid transition condition, by extrapolation to infinite Reynolds number, gives excellent agreement with the calcwlatcd inviscid sonic criterion. It is thought that this provides the explanation for the usual persistence of regular reflection beyond the sonic: condition.