Vorticity and its rate of change just downstream of a curved shock

A theory is developed for the vorticity and its substantial derivative just downstream of a curved shock wave, the resulting formulas are exact, algebraic, and explicit. Analysis is for a cylinder-wedge or sphere-cone body, at zero incidence, whose downstream half-angle is θ_b. Derived formulas directly depend only on the ratio of specific heats, γ, the freestream Mach number, M ₁, the local slope and curvature of the shock, and the dimensionality parameter, σ, which is zero for a two-dimensional shock and unity for an axisymmetric shock. In turn, the slope and curvature depend on γ, M ₁, and θ_b. Numerical results are provided for a bow shock in which θ_b is 5°, 10°, or 15°, M ₁ is 2, 4, or 6, and γ = 1.4. There is little dependence on the half angle but a strong dependence on the freestream Mach number and on dimensionality. For vorticity and its substantial derivative, the dimensionality dependence gradually decreases with increasing Mach number. In comparison to the two-dimensional case, an axisymmetric shock generates considerable vorticity in a region relatively close to the symmetry axis. Moreover, the magnitude of the vorticity, in this region, is further enhanced in the flow downstream of the shock. This dimensionality difference in vorticity and its substantial derivative is attributed to the three-dimensional relief effect in an axisymmetric flow.

---