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 ground-based 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° apex angle blunt cone at zero and 45° 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° apex angle blunt cone at zero incidence is compared with the theoretically estimated shock shape using a CFD code