Effects of Atwood number on shock focusing in shock–cylinder interaction

Abstract

The evolution of shock-accelerated heavy-gas cylinder surrounded by the air with different Atwood numbers ( $$A_t=0.28, 0.50, 0.63$$ ) is investigated, concentrating on shock focusing and jet formation. Experimentally, a soap film technique is used to generate an ideal two-dimensional discontinuous gas cylinder with a clear surface, which can guarantee the observation of shock wave movements inside the cylinder. Different Atwood numbers are realized by different mixing ratios of $$\hbox {SF}_6$$ and air inside the cylinder. A high-speed schlieren system is adopted to capture the shock motions and jet morphology. Numerical simulations are also performed to provide more information. The results indicate that an inward jet is formed for low Atwood numbers, while an outward jet is generated for high Atwood numbers. Different Atwood numbers will lead to the differences in the relative velocities between the incident shock and the refraction shock, which ultimately results in the differences in shock competition near the downstream pole. The morphology and feature of the jet are closely associated with the position and intensity of shock focusing. The pressure and vorticity contours indicate that the jet formation should be attributed to the pressure pulsation caused by shock focusing, and the jet development is ascribed to the vorticity induction. Finally, a time ratio proposed in the previous work for determining the shock-focusing type is verified by experiments.