Focusing of strong shocks in an annular shock tube

Focusing of strong shock waves in a gas-filled thin convergence chamber with various forms of the reflector boundary is investigated experimentally and numerically. The convergence chamber is mounted at the end of the horizontal co-axial shock tube. The construction of the convergence chamber allows the assembly of the outer chamber boundaries of various shapes. Boundaries with three different shapes have been used in the present investigation-a circle, an octagon and a smooth pentagon. The shock tube in the current study was able to produce annular shocks with the initial Mach number in the range M-s = 2.3-3.6. The influence of the shape of the boundary on the shape and properties of the converging and reflected shock waves in the chamber has then been investigated both experimentally and numerically. It was found that the form of the converging shock is initially governed by the shape of the reflector and the nonlinear interaction between the shape of the shock and velocity of shock propagation. Very close to the center of convergence the shock obtains a square-like form in case of a circular and octagonal reflector boundary. This is believed to stem from the instability of the converging shock front triggered by the disturbances in the flow field. The outgoing, reflected shocks were also observed to be influenced by the shape of the boundary through the flow ahead as created by the converging shocks.