Numerical computation of viscous blunt body flows with a planar impinging shock

Two- and three-dimensional, viscous blunt body flows with planar impinging shocks are computed using an explicit, time-dependent, finite-difference method to solve the complete set of Navier-Stokes equations. The bow shock is treated as a discontinuity, while all interior shock layer detail such as shear layers, shock waves, jets and the wall boundary layer are automatically captured in the solution. Numerical results are presented for cases in which planar shock waves of different strengths and orientations are allowed to impinge on the flow field surroundings an infinite cylinder resulting in two- and three-dimensional shock interference patterns. The numerical results are compared with experiment.