Visualization of shock shapes around blunt bodies at hypersonic Mach number in a shock tunnel using electrical discharge technique

The flowfield around large angle blunt cones flying at hypersonic Mach numbers is complex with a strong detached shock wave in front. Visualization of these shock waves around the test models in groundbased testing facilities is an essential part of the modern day research in hypersonic aerodynamics, Recently we reported a technique based on electrical discharge to visualize the shock waves around bodies with simple geometries in a hypersonic shock tunnel. Extension of this technique for the visualization of shock shapes around a slender cone with blunt nose and a 120 degrees apex angle blunt cone at zero and 45 degrees angle of attack in HST2 shock tunnel with free stream Mach number of 5.75 is reported here. The strong shock wave ahead of the 120 degrees apex angle blunt cone at zero incidence is compared with the theoretically estimated shock shape using a CFD code