A study of conical and curved shock waves via the streamline transformation method

The axisymmetric conical and curved shock waves are studied theoretically via the streamline transformation method (STM), which integrates the differential geometries of streamlines into the conservation laws and solves the flow field geometrically. Under the condition of a straight shock wave, the governing equation is significantly simplified, from which the assumptions of the conical flow and geometric self-similarity are mathematically proved. The simplified equation is also demonstrated as equivalent to the classical Taylor–MacColl equation. The flow mechanism after a conical shock wave is discussed from a geometric perspective, where the key factor is the dimensionless lateral distance between symmetric planes. The corresponding geometric and flow parameters, e.g., the distance between streamlines, the streamline curvature, and the Mach number, are computed for the demonstration of this mechanism. In the flow field over a circular cone, the isentropic compression is modeled geometrically. Due to the isentropic compression, the conical shock wave remains approximately a Mach wave at small semi-angles and the detachment is suspended at large semi-angles. For the axisymmetric curved shock wave, the flow field is computed directly by the streamline transformation method, where both the concave and convex shock waves are considered. Along the wall streamline, an explicit proportional relation between the shock curvature and the orthogonal derivatives of flow parameters is also provided and verified numerically. These results are applicable in the theoretical analysis and inverse design of axisymmetric shock waves.