Using Method of Characteristics to Assess Reflected Oblique Shock Simulations

Oblique shock reflections occur in a variety of instances when a supersonic flow is compressed by a concave contact surface. These reflections can vary significantly in complexity depending on the initial Mach number of the planar shock, the number of facets on the contact surface, and their corresponding angles. Standard analyses of oblique shocks, such as shock polar analysis, provide only limited information for shocks over multi-faceted reflectors. Thus, it is necessary to explore and develop additional techniques to assess these types of problems. This exploratory study proposes and examines the utility of using the method of characteristics (MOC) as a physics-informed reference to test whether hydrodynamic code (hydrocode) solutions in smooth supersonic regions are consistent with a characteristic-based continuation of hydrocode-extracted upstream data. This technique will be applied to a single-wedge and double-wedge simulation to examine method-to-method discrepancies and refinement behavior. The resulting characteristic nets and summary metrics demonstrate that MOC can be useful for assessing consistency and refinement behavior in simulations of oblique shock reflections.